H.M. Tsar Simeon II of the Bulgarians Mr. Europe
HIS MAJESTY TSAR SIMEON II OF THE BULGARIANS
Son of King Boris III and Queen Giovanna, Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha was born on June 16, 1937 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Upon the sudden death of King Boris III on August 28, 1943, the 6-year old Simeon acceded to the throne as Tsar* Simeon II. Following the communist coup in 1946, a referendum forced King Simeon II, his sister Princess Maria Luisa and the Queen Mother Giovanna to leave Bulgaria. Without abdicating, the young King was to spend long years of exile.
After almost 50 years of exile he proclaimed his intention to form a new political entity – the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) – dedicated to high political morale and integrity. As the leader of the Movement, after overcoming the stumbling blocks on the way to registering the Movement in court, the Bulgarian King joined the parliamentary elections on June 17, 2001.
After a landslide victory for the NMSII, Simeon II Saxe-Coburg Gotha was sworn in as Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria on July 24, 2001. He completed a successful 4-year term of office in a government coalition with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – the first post-communist cabinet to end its mandate with enhanced public approval. During the term of the NMSII governance, Bulgaria attained the strategic national ideals of joining NATO and signing the Treaty of Accession to the European Union.