Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Simeon Borisov Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Симеон Борисов Сакскобургготски, ; born 16 June 1937) is a Bulgarian politician who reigned as the last tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria as Simeon II from 1943 until 1946.

He was six years old when his father Boris III of Bulgaria died in 1943.

Royal power was exercised on his behalf by a regency council led by Simeon's uncle Kiril, Prince of Preslav, General Nikola Mihov and prime minister, Bogdan Filov.

He was pointed to accede to the throne on 28 August 1943 upon the death of his father, who had just returned to Bulgaria from a meeting with Adolf Hitler.

Since Simeon was only six years old, his uncle Prince Kiril, Prime Minister Bogdan Filov, and Lt. General Nikola Mihov of the Bulgarian Army were appointed regents.

Under his father, Bulgaria joined the Axis powers in World War II but managed to preserve diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

Still, on 5 September 1944 Stalin declared war on Bulgaria and three days later, the Red Army entered the country without encountering resistance.

On the next day, 9 September 1944, Prince Kyril and the other regents were deposed by a Soviet-backed coup and arrested.

However, these social sentiments gradually disappeared after his premiership, with Simeon making moves to take back large areas or real estate property in Bulgaria that was under the monarchy's governance before 1945.

In 1946 the monarchy was abolished by referendum, and Simeon was forced into exile.

On 15 September 1946, a referendum was held in the presence of the Soviet army.

It proposed abolishing the monarchy and declaring a republic.

Official figures showed a 95.6% approval for ending 68 years of monarchy.

This referendum actually violated the Tarnovo Constitution, which held that any change in the form of the state could only be implemented by a Grand National Assembly convened by the tsar.

On 16 September 1946, the royal family was exiled from Bulgaria while given a way to take out large amount of movable property.

They first went to Alexandria, Egypt, where Queen Giovanna's father, Victor Emmanuel III, the former king of Italy, lived in exile.

The three regents, all members of the last three governments, Parliament deputies, heads of the army and eminent journalists were executed by the Communists in February 1947.

The royal family — Queen Giovanna, Simeon, and his sister Maria-Louisa — remained at Vrana Palace, near Sofia, while three new regents were appointed, all Communists (Todor Pavlov, Venelin Ganev and Tsvetko Boboshevski).

There, in 1951, Simeon studied at Victoria College (along with Crown Prince Leka of Albania).

In July 1951, General Francisco Franco's dictatorship in Spain granted asylum to the family.

In Madrid, Simeon studied at the Lycée Français.

On 16 June 1955, upon turning 18, in accordance with the Tarnovo Constitution, Simeon read a proclamation to the Bulgarian people, claiming that he was Tsar of Bulgaria and confirming his will to be Tsar of all Bulgarians and to follow the principles contrary to those of the communist regime then ruling Bulgaria.

In 1958, he enrolled at Valley Forge Military Academy and College in the United States, where he was known as "Cadet Rylski No. 6883", and he graduated as a second lieutenant.

Once again in Spain (between 1959 and 1962), Simeon studied law and business administration.

He then became a businessman.

For thirteen years, he was chairman of the Spanish subsidiary of Thomson, a French defense and electronics group.

He was also an adviser in the banking, hotel, electronics, and catering sectors.

On 21 January 1962, Simeon married a Spanish aristocrat, Doña Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela.

The couple have had five children – four sons (Kardam, Kiril, Kubrat and Konstantin) and a daughter, Kalina, all of whom subsequently married Spaniards.

All of his sons received names of Bulgarian Tsars, his daughter has a Bulgarian name, although only four of his eleven grandchildren have Bulgarian names (Boris, Sofia, Mirko and Simeon).

In 1990, just months after the fall of communism, Simeon was issued a new Bulgarian passport.

He did not, at that point, make any political announcements or moves, as he had already denied in a TV interview (1990) to have any material property claims against Bulgaria.

He returned to his home country in 1996, formed the political party National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) and was elected Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria from July 2001 until August 2005.

In the next elections, as a leader of NMSP, he took part in a coalition government with the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

In 1996, fifty years after the abolition of the monarchy, Simeon returned to Bulgaria and was met in many places by crowds of approval.

In 2001, Simeon, who had by this time taken the name Simeon Borisov Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, announced he would return to Bulgaria to form a new political party, the National Movement Simeon II (later renamed to NMSP), dedicated to "reforms and political integrity."

In 2009, after NMSP failed to win any seats in Parliament, he left politics.

He is, along with the 14th Dalai Lama, one of only two living people who were heads of state from the time of World War II, although both held mostly symbolic roles in their government's position.

Simeon was born to Boris III of Bulgaria and Giovanna of Italy.

Following his birth, Boris III sent an air force officer to the Jordan River to obtain water for Simeon's baptism in the Orthodox faith.