Princess Eudoxia of Bulgaria

Princess Eudoxia of Bulgaria (; 5 January 1898 – 4 October 1985) was the eldest daughter and third child of King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and his first wife, Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma. She was a devoted sister and confidante to King Boris III.

Biography

Family Eudoxia of Bulgaria, her stepmother Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz, and her siblings, circa late 1900s. The eldest daughter and third of four children of King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and his first wife, Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, Eudoxia of Bulgaria was born at the Royal Palace in Sofia on . Her name, Eudoxia, means "one who is valued."

Eudoxia was exactly one year old when her mother died the day after the birth of her last child, Eudoxia's younger sister Nadezhda, on 31 January 1899.

Through her father, Ferdinand, who became King of the Bulgarians in 1908, she was a great-granddaughter of Louis Philippe I, King of the French; while through her mother, she was the niece of Empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma and was descended from the Dukes of Parma, the Kings of the Two Sicilies, the Kings of France, and many other European sovereigns.

Eudoxia of Bulgaria had two brothers: Boris, who succeeded his father to the Bulgarian throne upon his abdication in 1918, and Kirill. She also had a sister, Nadezhda, with whom she was raised under the authority of their stepmother, Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz, whom King Ferdinand married in 1908. Her paternal grandmother, Princess Clémentine of Orléans, attempted to spend as much time as possible with her Bulgarian grandchildren. The aging grandmother died on 16 February 1907.

First Lady and Personal Life

From an early age, Eudoxia was interested in the fine arts. Her artistic talents allowed her to design flags for various regiments and create paintings, mostly depicting nature.

In 1922, Eudoxia and her sister Princess Nadejda became the confidants of King Boris III of Bulgaria. A loyal confidante of her brother, Eudoxia nevertheless followed her father into exile in Coburg in 1918. She returned to Bulgaria in 1922 and acted as First Lady of the Land until King Boris III married Princess Giovanna of Savoy (also known as Giovanna of Italy) in 1930. In September 1946, the royal family was exiled. Eudoxia shared their fate and left Bulgaria to settle with her father in Coburg, who died on 10 September 1948.

Literature Hans-Joachim Böttcher: Ferdinand von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha 1861–1948: Ein Kosmopolit auf dem bulgarischen Thron. Osteuropazentrum-Berlin-Verlag (Anthea-Verlagsgruppe), Berlin 2019, , pp. 391–392 a.o.

Arms

Ancestors