Eleonore Reuss zu Köstritz

This article describes the Tsarina of Bulgaria. The biography of the song poet Eleonore Princess Reuss zu Köstritz (1835–1903) can be found under Eleonore zu Stolberg-Wernigerode .

Princess Eleonore Reuss zu Köstritz as Tsarina of Bulgaria

Eleonore Caroline Gasparine Louise Princess Reuss zu Köstritz (born August 22, 1860 in Trebschen , † September 12, 1917 in Euxinograd ) was Tsarina of Bulgaria as the wife of Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria .

Life

Eleonore was a daughter of Prince Heinrich IV. Reuss zu Köstritz (1821-1894) and his wife Princess Luise Reuss zu Greiz, related. Princess of Saxony-Altenburg (1822–1875). She learned to be a nurse and was a deaconess in Lübben for a time . Dissatisfied with the job, she worked in the Russo-Japanese War ( 1904-1905) as head of a medical department. As a result she mostly lived with her brother Prince Heinrich XXIV in Ernstbrunn Palace and supported a children's hospital in Vienna.

The 47-year-old Eleanor married Ferdinand, who was of the same age, nine years after the death of his first wife Marie Louise von Bourbon-Parma . The engagement, which took place at Serrahn Castle on December 6, 1907 , was arranged through Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna .

A Catholic wedding took place on February 28, 1908 in the Church of St. Augustin in Coburg , the Protestant one followed on March 1 in Gera at Osterstein Castle in the presence of almost the entire Russian royal family.

Eleonore took care of the upbringing of her stepchildren as well as the development of charities in Bulgaria a. a. of the Bulgarian Red Cross. During the Balkan Wars of 1912/13 and when the First World War broke out , she worked as a nurse. Her tomb was built at her own request in the cemetery next to the famous Boyana Church in Sofia . The grave was leveled during the communist regime in Bulgaria, but has since been restored to its original state.

literature

• Queen Eleanor of Bulgaria †. In: Coburger Zeitung. September 14, 1917 ( digitized version )
• Stephen Constant: Foxy Ferdinand, 1861-1948, Tsar of Bulgaria. Sidgwick and Jackson, London 1979, ISBN 0-283-98515-1 .
• Hans-Joachim Böttcher : Ferdinand von Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha 1861 - 1948 - a cosmopolitan on the Bulgarian throne . Osteuropazentrum Berlin - Verlag (Anthea Verlagsgruppe), Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-89998-296-1 , pp. 188 - 200, 270 - 274, 320 - 327 a. v. a.

Web links

Commons : Eleonore Reuss zu Köstritz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Newspaper article about Eleonore Reuss zu Köstritz in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Antonova, Neda, 1940-: Carica Eleonora Bălgarska: documentary roman . 1st izd edition. Izdat. "Fakel", Sofija 2014, ISBN 978-954-411-203-5 , pp. 110 .

predecessor	Office	Successor
---	Tsarina of Bulgaria 1908–1917	Giovanna of Savoy