Bulgaria's President has bowed to the ally of Hitler, the Macedonian online media outlet Republica (Republic) has written Sunday.

The Bulgarian news agency Focus informs the headline in the Macedonian publication is dedicated to the memorial service and liturgy, held Sunday at the Rila Monastery in honor of 70 years since the death of Tsar Boris III The Unifier (r. 1918-1943).

The memorial was attended by the President of the Republic, Rosen Plevneliev, diplomats, public figures, members of the royal family and monarchists.

"My presence is a demonstration of respect from a Head of State to another Head of State, a human gesture to the family of Tsar Boris III, who suffered unjustly," Republica quotes Plevneliev telling reporters after the ceremony.

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 Soviet Army 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.

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.

Saxe-Coburg and his sister Maria Louisa represented the family at the ceremony.