Prince Ferdinand I Crowned as Bulgaria’s Ruler on 2 August 1887

On 2 August 1887 German Prince Ferdinand of Saxe‑Coburg‑Gotha was formally crowned in Veliko Tarnovo as Prince of Bulgaria. His election followed the abdication of Prince Alexander I Battenberg in August 1886 and a political crisis that led the Bulgarian regency—Stefan Stambolov, Sava Mutkurov and Georgi Zhivkov—to seek a new monarch.

The regency sent a delegation to Vienna, where Ferdinand was offered the throne. After consulting Germany, Britain and France, the Bulgarian National Assembly accepted his candidacy without Russian consent, straining Russo‑Bulgarian relations. Ferdinand’s coronation ceremony before the Assembly marked the start of his reign, during which he left Stambolov to manage domestic affairs, married Italian Princess Maria‑Luisa in 1893, and secured the succession with his son Prince Boris. Over the following years he pursued diplomatic contacts with Russia, eventually achieving formal recognition and a rapprochement with the Russian Empire.