Bulgaria's boy king dethroned (9-9-46)

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The Evening Star (September 9, 1946)

Boy king dethroned By Bulgaria, to join relatives in exile

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) – Nine-year-old King Simeon II, a blue-eyed schoolboy who has been the figurehead of the Bulgarian government for the last three years, has lost his throne.

The government announced today that votes cast in Bulgaria’s Sunday plebiscite favored the establishment of a republic, 3,801,160 to 171,000.

Simeon will go into exile this week. Helping his mother, Queen Ioanna, to pack, he expressed pleasure that he soon will see his Italian cousins, his grandfather, former King Vittorio Emanuele of Italy, and many other relatives in exile.

He will leave the royal palace eight miles east of Sofia, and the summer palaces in the Rila Mountains and elsewhere, to become another in the group of former monarchs who live in foreign lands.

Ruled under urgency

A regency has ruled the country for Simeon, the only son of the late King Boris III and Queen Ioanna.

Simeon speaks Bulgarian, French, Italian, German and English fluently and is studying Russian. Conversing with his mother, who formerly was Princess Giovanna of Italy, he usually uses Italian. He has a special interest in botany. Sofia citizens often have seen Simeon with the queen mother visiting, shopping or church-going.

The 69-year-rule of the Coburg family, during which Bulgaria has fought three unsuccessful wars and suffered countless casualties, ends with the dethronation. Yet no anti-Simeon feeling was expressed during the antimonarchist election campaign, because it was the institution which the campaigners hated, not the boy king.

Plebiscite is orderly

The government said the plebiscite passed in absolute order, with no incidents reported.

George Dimitrov, Communist leader, declared in a nationwide broadcast the Bulgarians had voted for a “people’s republic” which would help bring peace to the Balkans.

“Bulgaria will not be a Soviet republic,” said Dimitrov, former secretary-general of the Comintern. “There will not be any dictatorship. The basic factors will be the laboring majority of the people and Slav unity and brotherhood against any aggression.”

Vassil Kolarov, speaker of Parliament, is to become provisional president pending selection of a national assembly October 27.

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The Pittsburgh Press (September 9, 1946)

Bulgaria votes to kick out King Simeon

Republic receives heavy majority

SOFIA (UP) – King Simeon II, 9-year-old ruler of Bulgaria, appeared definitely today to have lost his three-year-old throne. Official returns from Sunday’s plebiscite indicated an overwhelming choice for a republican form of government.

A leftist victory had been predicted in the Russian-occupied country which joined the Axis in March 1941 and declared war against the United States three months later.

King Simeon rules under a regency council established under German influence in 1943. The council was reorganized in September 1944 when Bulgaria was granted an armistice by Russia.

Informed sources said the Bulgarian royal family, with the exception of Princess Eudoxia, was preparing to leave the country.

Simeon will be the second European monarch to be deposed by plebiscite in recent months. King Humbert II of Italy was defeated at the polls in June. Greek voters, however, returned King George II to his throne a week ago.

No ‘Soviet Republic’

Communist Leader George Dimitrov told the voters yesterday that Bulgaria would not be a “Soviet Republic.”

“Private property earned through labor and savings will have actual safeguards,” he said. “Bulgaria will be a people’s republic – a free and independent state – and a basic factor in the republic will be the laboring people’s majority.”

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Wiener Kurier (September 10, 1946)

Bulgarischer König geht nach Ägypten

Nächsten Sonntag wird Bulgarien Volksrepublik

simeon.archiv
Der neunjährige König Simeon von Bulgarien, der durch die Volksabstimmung am Sonntag seinen Thron verloren hat (Photo: Archiv)

Sofia (UP.) - Der neunjährige König Simeon und die Königinmutter werden voraussichtlich Bulgarien Ende dieser Woche verlassen und sich über Varna und Konstantinopel nach Ägypten begeben.

Als das Endergebnis der Volksabstimmung, bei der sich das bulgarische Volk mit 93 Prozent aller abgegebenen Stimmen für die Republik entschied, bekannt wurde, bereitete die königliche Familie bereits ihre Abreise vor.

Die Regierung hat die Entscheidung getroffen, daß alles persönliche Eigentum der königlichen Familie verbleibt und daß die Auswahl der Begleiter und Diener, die mit ins Exil gehen werden, von der königlichen Familie selbst vorgenommen werden kann.

Eine besondere Kommission wird die Vermögensfragen der königlichen Familie regeln; wahrscheinlich wird der bulgarische Staat dem König und seiner Familie eine jährliche Rente aussetzen.

Ausrufung der Republik am 15. September

Sofia (WK.) - Das offizielle Ergebnis der bulgarischen Volksabstimmung über die zukünftige Staatsform wurde von Radio Sofia wie folgt bekanntgegeben: 3,801.160 Stimmen wurden für die Republik abgegeben, während für die Beibehaltung der Monarchie 197.176 Bulgaren stimmten. Die ungültigen Stimmen beliefen sich auf 119.168. Insgesamt wurden 4,117.504 Stimmen abgegeben, das entspricht 91,56 Prozent der Wahlberechtigten. Auf die Republik entfielen 92,27 Prozent der gültigen Stimmen.

Im Einklang mit dem Gesetz über die Volksbefragung wird die Ausrufung der Volksrepublik durch die Kammer am Tage nach der Entscheidung des Obersten Gerichtshofes über die Volksbefragung erfolgen. Der Oberste Gerichtshof muß sich binnen einer Frist von sechs Tagen äußern, so daß die Ausrufung der Republik Sonntag, den 15. September, stattfinden wird.