Bulgarian Monarchists Mark Tsar Boris III's Birthday

Representatives of Bulgarian monarchist organizations celebrated Monday the 118th birthday of Bulgaria's Tsar Boris III The Unifier (r. 1918-1943).

The Club of Bulgarian Monarchists and the National Youth Club "Vrana" (named after one of the Bulgarian royal residences) laid flowers at the Tsar Boris III's monument at the Borisova Garden, the downtown Sofia park named after him.

Boris III the Unifier, Tsar of the Bulgarians (30 January 1894 – 28 August 1943), was the son of Tsar Ferdinand I; he came to the throne in 1918 upon the abdication of his father, following the defeat of the Tsardom of Bulgaria during World War I.

During World War II, Boris III eventually allied Bulgaria with Nazi Germany, even though in the early days of the war he managed to keep Bulgaria neutral for two years.

In 1941, Boris reluctantly allied Bulgaria with the Axis Powers in an attempt to recover Macedonia from Greece and Yugoslavia, which had been gained by Bulgaria in the First Balkan War and lost again in the Second.

However, in spite of this loose alliance, Boris was not willing to render full and unconditional cooperation with Nazi Germany. Thus, Bulgaria never sent troops to fight the Russians on the Eastern Front, unlike other Axis states, and Boris is also credited with preventing the deportation of some 50 000 Bulgarian Jews to Holocaust death camps in 1943 despite massive pressure by Hitler.

During the celebration of his 118th birthday in Sofia Monday, representatives of the monarchist organizations reminded a quote by Bulgaria's Tsar Boris III:

"My ministers are Anglophiles, my generals are Germanophiles, my people are Russophiles, and I am the only one who has remained a Bulgarophile."

Tsar Boris III is the father of Bulgaria's last Tsar, Simeon II Saxe-Coburg, who served as a minor Tsar in 1943-1946, and as Bulgaria's Prime Minister in 2001-2005.