“He is totally unfit...delicate, eccentric and effeminate...Should be stopped at once.” – Queen Victoria
Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria made his mark in history as a boldly effeminate bisexual ruler with a petulant personality to boot, who, at numerous times during his reign, proved to be an actually effective world leader. The self-declared “Emperor of the New Byzantium”, though bewitched by frippery and flashiness throughout his life, showcased his strength as a politician when he successfully led his country to prosperity during times of peace. Ferdinand, who was prone to dressing in flashy, feminine clothing, sashayed into a position of power amidst a sea of naysayers who spewed homophobic derisions and doubted his leadership capabilities, only to initially prove them all wrong. It was solely through a series of missteps in two consecutive wars married with Ferdinand’s unwavering vision to expand his country’s territory and help usher in a Bulgarian Renaissance, that the Tsar’s glorious reign would ultimately come crashing down and render Ferdinand an exiled failure.
Ferdinand I of Bulgaria was born Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on February 26, 1861 in Vienna, Austria. The son of Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg and his wife, Clémentine of Orléans, daughter of King Louis Philippe I of France, Ferdinand grew up in the ancestral lands of Hungary and Germany amidst Austro-Hungarian high nobility. His early life was marked by the strong influences of his parents, who raised him in their Catholic faith and baptized him in St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Ferdinand’s mother, in particular, was an authoritative figure who transferred her own political ambitions onto her son and groomed him from an early age on how to act like a ruler. Ferdinand received a traditional well-to-do education that focused on the arts and became fluent in numerous languages, including German, French, and English. He also displayed a strong interest in military affairs and graduated from cadet school before serving in the Austrian and Hungarian Hussar regiments.
In 1886, while Ferdinand was still in the army, Alexander of Battenberg, the ruling Prince of Bulgaria since 1879, abdicated the throne after a coup was carried out by pro-Russian Bulgarian Army officers. On July 7, 1887, Ferdinand was elected Prince of Bulgaria by the country’s Grand National Assembly, after the throne had been offered to and rejected by numerous other candidates. Ferdinand, already groomed for the role by his parents, accepted the position without hesitation, though his accession to the throne was met with great disbelief across multiple royal houses of Europe. Queen Victoria of England, Ferdinand’s father’s first cousin, famously retorted about the newly crowned Bulgarian leader: “He is totally unfit…delicate, eccentric and effeminate…should be stopped at once.”
Though his actual fitness to rule was yet to be determined, Victoria was not incorrect in her other descriptions of her cousin. Ferdinand was, in fact, known by this time as a fancily dressed, self-absorbed, dandyish figure, whose rumored queerness was a source of fascination across Europe. Otherwise tall and portly, Ferdinand was a regally mustached and bearded individual whose most prominent facial feature was his nose, which garnered him the unfortunate nickname, “Der Naseferdinand” (the Nose-Ferdinand).
To help offset his queer image, Ferdinand’s mother set her son up with an Austrian Arch-Duchess, and doing as he was told, Ferdinand declared his love for the woman and proposed to her in marriage. In response, the Arch-Duchess nearly laughed in Ferdinand’s face, seeing through his insincerity and feeling as though the effete Ferdinand was only interested in her to help improve his own image. In 1893, however, Ferdinand found a woman who would marry him, and on April 20th of that year he wed Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, in what was considered a “marriage of convenience.” Marie-Louise and Ferdinand had never met prior to the day of their engagement.
Marie-Louise was once described by Ferdinand’s mother as "Unhappily not very pretty”, but managed to dutifully produce four heirs: Boris III (1894–1943), Kyril (1895–1945), Eudoxia (1898–1985), Nadezhda (1899–1958). Marie-Louise unfortunately died giving birth to her youngest daughter, and Ferdinand’s domineering mother then stepped in to raise her grandchildren. Ferdinand did not think about the prospect of remarrying until his own mother passed away in 1907, and to provide his children with a mother figure, he married Princess Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz on February 28, 1908. This time, Ferdinand personally requested from the person he hired to help him find a new bride, that he did not “want a wife who would expect affection or even get attention.” Eleonore at least knew the kind of marriage she was entering, and neither romantic love nor physical attraction played any role in their relationship. Ferdinand even went so far as demanding separate bedrooms on their honeymoon, and most presume that their marriage was never consummated.
While he may not have shown sexual affection to his second wife, Ferdinand was known to be quite a hedonistic individual. He was, at the very least, bisexual, and in his early years was inclined more towards women, enjoying numerous affairs with ladies in humble positions and fathering several illegitimate children whom he then supported financially. Meanwhile, Ferdinand was also a frequent visitor to the Italian isle of Capri, known as the paradise for rich, turn-of-the-century homosexual men. In 1895, Stefan Stambolov, the Bulgarian former Prime Minister, gave an interview in which he essentially outed Ferdinand, focusing heavily on his own personal witness of Ferdinand’s homosexual pursuits. When the news broke, it created a nine-day scandal across Europe. Later in life, Ferdinand leaned more towards relations with men, particularly handsome young blonds, and rumors abounded of his various trysts with lieutenants and valets.
Despite the salacious frivolity of Ferdinand’s personal affairs, to the detriment of many of his doubters, the Bulgarian ruler’s initial run at governance was actually quite successful. His early reign was characterized by constant and decisive interventions in domestic policy, while he also guided Bulgaria’s foreign policy in a positive direction. Ferdinand abetted his country in making significant strides in culture, science & education, strengthened the Bulgarian army and rearmament and went on a building spree, ordering the construction of numerous architecturally distinguished structures that can still be seen in the country today. Early on, Ferdinand was hailed as the ‘new Machiavelli’, and received the complimentary nickname, “Foxy Ferdinand”, alluding to his shrewdness.
Ferdinand’s early years as Prince also came with strategic power moves. The aforementioned Stambolov, who outed Ferdinand’s homosexual escapades in the news, was a dominant force in Bulgaria’s domestic political field during Ferdinand’s early reign, but was allegedly pushed to resign by the ruler in 1894. Within a year of giving his defamatory interview, Stambolov was mysteriously assassinated in a brutal street fight that was likely coordinated by Ferdinand. With this assassination, Ferdinand also paved the way for a reconciliation between Bulgaria and Russia, which he symbolically solidified in 1896 by converting his infant son from Roman Catholicism to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Ferdinand made an even bolder move on October 5, 1908 when he publicly proclaimed Bulgaria’s rightful independence from the Ottoman Empire. During this proclamation, he declared Bulgaria a kingdom and assumed for himself the title of Tsar. In doing so, Ferdinand’s intent was to revive the medieval tradition of the Bulgarian Empire and to be treated like a true king. One of Ferdinand’s primary objectives as Tsar was to solve the Bulgarian National Question, which centered around the idea of rebuilding Great Bulgaria, the country that existed according to borders set by the preliminary Russo-Turkish Treaty signed in 1878. This desire to regain lost land and expand Bulgaria’s territories would be a leading factor in many of Ferdinand’s future decisions as Tsar. Meanwhile, Ferdinand’s Bulgarian Declaration of Independence was met with mixed reactions, and though it was ultimately recognized by the Ottoman Empire and other European powers, many objected to Ferdinand calling himself Tsar and completely shedding Turkish sovereignty.
As Tsar, Ferdinand’s eccentric personality swelled ever more in the spotlight, and he quickly became known as a petty and pugnacious character. In 1909, when he visited his second-cousin, German Emperor Wilhelm II, Wilhelm came up behind Ferdinand and slapped him on the bottom. Ferdinand, already beset by homophobic scandal, was extremely affronted and demanded an apology, which Wilhelm obliged to. Nevertheless, Ferdinand retaliated shortly thereafter when he awarded a valuable arms contract that he had intended to give to Germany instead to the French Arms manufacturer, Schneider-Creusot.
Ferdinand acted begrudgingly yet again in 1910, when on a journey to his second-cousin’s funeral a dispute over royal protocol erupted regarding the placement in the procession of his private railroad car in relation to that of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Franz Ferdinand won out and his carriage was placed first, directly behind the train’s engine, while the Tsar’s was placed second. Meanwhile, the train’s dining car was placed third, and in an act of spite, Ferdinand I refused the Archduke access through his own carriage to get to the dining car for the entire ride, forcing Franz to get off the train entirely when the train was docked at a station if he ever wanted any food.
Ferdinand was, in fact, a stickler for pomp and ceremony who was obsessed with royal protocol. In 1932, in yet another act of pettiness, Ferdinand made a scene at the conclusion of the wedding between Prince Gustaf Adolf & Princess Sibylla. With the ceremony over, Ferdinand fretted aloud when he saw that Victoria Melita, the Grand Duchess of Russia, was getting into the car that had brought her in order to head home. Ferdinand was enraged that it was against protocol for her to leave before him, since he outranked her, and made a grand scene in front of the wedding audience, shocking onlookers by stomping towards his own car and finagling his way out to leave the party first.
In addition to his diva-like fits of behavior, Ferdinand’s flamboyance as king was also on display when it came to his passion for opulent fashion. He became notorious for donning a Byzantine Emperor’s full regalia, which he had custom-made by a Parisian theatrical costumer. He was also known to parade around in ostentatious silk turbans, painted fingernails, rings inlaid with precious stones and even fine chamois leather gloves, on occasion. According to an anecdote from Marcel Proust, a writer and fellow queer figure from the time, when Ferdinand once asked a duchess if she was ever jealous, she replied, “Yes, sir, of your bracelets.” Around his neck, Ferdinand wore a gem-encrusted cross on a silver chain, and was mocked across Europe for being the leading monarch in history to cram the most jeweled pins, metals and brooches on his tunic to a point where Kaiser Wilhelm II once described Ferdinand as “festooned with decorations like a Christmas tree.” In fact, though Ferdinand’s effete fashion choices were tolerated at best, his feminine ways were primarily mocked behind his back. Lady Paget, the wife of the British Ambassador to Vienna once mentioned with derision that Ferdinand’s “affections are innumerable. He wears bracelets and powders his face. He sleeps in pink surah nightgowns trimmed with Valenciennes lace. His constitution is so delicate and his nerves so finely strung, that he only consults ladies’ doctors.”
“He is totally unfit...delicate, eccentric and effeminate...Should be stopped at once.” – Queen Victoria
Despite the antics and ridicule, Ferdinand initially proved to be an astute leader before taking his first political misstep in 1912 when he championed the formation of the Balkan League, which consisted of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece & Montenegro. The League’s collective aim was to dismember the Ottoman Empire and its formation sparked the first Balkan War of 1912. Ferdinand was motivated to form the League out of his persistent desire to expand Bulgaria’s territory, and in this case to reclaim Constantinople, create a “New Byzantium”, and crown himself the new “Emperor of Byzantium.” Fortunately for Ferdinand, Bulgaria and the three other Balkan States were victorious in the First Balkan War. But despite the victory, Bulgaria had contributed and lost the most soldiers out of the group, and also lost out on the territorial gains it had made when its allies could not agree on sharing the spoils of war.
This disagreement led to the Second Balkan War in 1913 in which Bulgaria, dissatisfied with the First War’s outcome, fought against its three former allies, as well as Romania and The Ottoman Empire. Ultimately, Bulgaria was defeated in the Second War, but fortunately for Ferdinand, in the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest his country managed to regain most of the territories it had conquered in the First Balkan War. While Ferdinand didn’t come out of the Balkan Wars totally humiliated, the Tsar nevertheless was not exactly riding into the sunset a glorious war hero who had succeeded in establishing his vision of an almighty “New Byzantium”. This weakened image would leave Ferdinand in a tenuous mindset at the onset of WWI, whose outbreak was imminent.
When the First World War did break out in 1914, Ferdinand initially declared Bulgaria’s neutrality. Of course, Ferdinand still had on his mind the idea of expanding Bulgaria, so he closely monitored both sides of the War and tried to play the field, awaiting offers from the two sides in order to see who would promise him more spoils of war. In late Summer 1915, Ferdinand publicly announced that Bulgaria would join the Central Powers, likely due to the fact that the Central Powers promised him a greater reward, which included offers to help correct Bulgaria’s borders with the Ottoman Empire and territorial gains at the expense of Greece & Romania.
On October 11, 1915 the Bulgarian army attacked Serbia and three days later, officially entered World War I. Needless to say, neither side of the War particularly cared for Ferdinand, and Ferdinand himself was not a fan of his newfound allies either–German Emperor Wilhelm II (who as mentioned, had called him a Christmas Tree), and Austrian Emperor Franz Josef I, who Ferdinand once called an idiot. But Ferdinand aligned with them anyway in his dogged pursuit of territorial gains, hoping to offset his Balkan War losses. Once again, Ferdinand was ridiculed behind his back, with undertones of homophobia playing a constant role. One British historian at the time reacted to Ferdinand joining the Central Powers: “In this war, where the ranks of the enemy present to us so many formidable, sinister, and shocking figures, there is one, and perhaps but one, which is purely ridiculous. If we had the heart to relieve our strained feelings by laughter, it would be at the gross Coburg traitor, with his bodyguard of assassins and his hidden coat-of-mail, his shaking hands and his painted face.”
Despite people’s perceptions of Ferdinand and his choice to enter the War, the Tsar once again initially exceeded expectations when Bulgaria achieved several decisive victories early on and laid claim to several disputed Macedonian territories. As the war continued, however, Ferdinand’s success would begin to waver, though his penchant for young blond, blue-eyed men would remain constant. Ferdinand appointed one young courier of the German military attache to his personal entourage as an ‘official reader of German newspapers.’ In another instance, the Tsar insisted that a certain young cadet be promoted to full officer rank so that the boy might be able to serve as Ferdinand’s personal orderly. On yet another occasion, a Bulgarian war minister was eager to discuss an urgent military matter with Ferdinand but was flabbergasted to hear that the ruler had driven off with his chauffeur and a car loaded with gifts to visit another young consort in his village home.
For the next two years, the Bulgarian army floundered, getting tied up trying to repel Allied advances from nearby Greece while also being distracted by the 1917 conquest of Romania. In September 1918, Serbian and French troops made a breakthrough in the Vardar Offensive, and the Bulgarians were defeated at the decisive Battle of Dobro Pole. By September 25th, British and French troops crossed the border into Bulgaria proper, and the Bulgarian army subsequently collapsed. Ferdinand had been defeated, and Bulgaria officially surrendered four days later, on September 29, 1918.
With his name tarnished and his country trounced, Ferdinand abdicated the throne in favor of his son, Boris III, in an effort to save the Bulgarian monarchy and his own royal lineage. WWI, in fact, destroyed all of the remaining monarchies of the Central Powers, ending the reigns of numerous Kaisers, Emperors and Sultans alike, and by the War’s conclusion only one monarchy remained: Bulgaria’s. Still, Ferdinand’s dreams for a “New Byzantium” were shattered, and Bulgaria on the whole lost not only the territories it had gained during the War, but also the territories it had won in the Balkan Wars.
Ferdinand left Bulgaria for Coburg, Germany, where he would remain for the rest of his life. With his glory days as a king seemingly behind him, one would think that Ferdinand had difficulty adjusting to a quiet life of defeat, but in actuality, the former Tsar retired with his head held high, fully content to pass the throne on to his son. Fortunately, Ferdinand managed to salvage much of his own personal wealth, and was able, despite his abdication, to live out exile in extreme luxury. His addiction to extravagant opulence only exacerbated in retirement. In one particular instance, Ferdinand, who adored fancy cars, ordered a custom Mercedes to be made for him, which took a factory three years to build. It came to be known as the “Royal Mercedes” and contained an interior made of rosewood and mahogany set with inlaid floral designs in ivory and gold. It was also notably the first car ever with a built-in ashtray, which Ferdinand personally demanded, and was at the time considered the most expensive automobile ever made.
Ferdinand spent the rest of his days devoted to hobbies and passions, including artistic endeavors, gardening, travel, and natural history. His carnal proclivities in retirement also did not let up, and in 1947, an 86 year-old Ferdinand secretly married his 26 year-old female assistant. While Ferdinand was able to luxuriate in exile, he would sadly live to see everything that he had worked towards in Bulgaria crumble before his eyes. He tragically outlived both of his sons beginning with Boris III, who died in 1943 under mysterious circumstances after a visit to Hitler in Germany didn’t go so well. Boris’ own son, Simeon II, succeeded the throne only to be deposed in 1946 by the Soviets, officially marking the end of the Bulgarian monarchy that Ferdinand had worked so hard to reestablish. The Kingdom of Bulgaria subsequently became the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, under which Ferdinand’s second son, Kyril, was executed. Upon hearing of his second son’s death, Ferdinand somberly retorted: “Everything is collapsing around me.” Ferdinand himself would pass away three years later, dying of natural causes on September 10, 1948. His final wish was to be buried in his homeland of Bulgaria, but Communist authorities would not allow it so Ferdinand was laid to rest in the family crypt in St. Augustin’s Church in Coburg.
Despite the challenges and controversies he endured during his reign, Ferdinand is ultimately remembered as a significant figure in Bulgarian history, whose impact on the country's development and modernization cannot be denied. Though his reign is often deemed controversial, and he tends to be blamed for ushering in two major catastrophes on Bulgaria–the 2nd Balkan War of 1913 and the defeat in WWI against the Central Powers–he nevertheless proved himself a savvy leader before then, who industrialized and rejuvenated his country and played a key role in establishing Bulgaria as a reputable global force. Additionally, Ferdinand should be remembered for wearing his queerness on his sleeve, alongside a couple hundred jeweled brooches no less, as he lived flamboyantly in the discerning public eye, all while pursuing relations with whomever he pleased, no matter their gender.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material
Anonymous. Ferdinand Of Bulgaria: The Amazing Career of a Shoddy Czar. London, Andrew
Melrose Ltd, 1916. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48330/48330-h/48330-h.htm
Aronson, Theo. Crowns In Conflict: The Triumph and the Tragedy of European Monarchy 1910-1918. Manchester, Salem House Publishers, 1986.
Constant, Stephen. Foxy Ferdinand, Tsar of Bulgaria. New York, Franklin Watts Inc, 1979.
Minkov, Stefan Marinov. “Ferdinand I, Tsar of Bulgaria.” International Encyclopedia of the First World War, 2014, October 8. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/ferdinand_i_tsar_of_bulgaria