Coffin with King Ferdinand's Mortal Remains Placed in Vrana Palace's Central Lobby

The coffin with the mortal remains of King Ferdinand I (reigned 1887-1918) was placed in the central lobby of the Royal Vrana Palace on the outskirts of Sofia, BTA informs.

The remains were carried to the royal palace in a funeral procession that started from the main entrance of the park after the hearse with the remains of King Ferdinand I arrived from Sofia Airport, where they were transported from Germany by military aircraft.

The funeral procession reached the Vrana Palace, where it was welcomed by Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and his family, together with Metropolitan Anthony of Western and Central Europe, official envoy of the Holy Synod, and Archbishop Luciano Suriani, Apostolic Nuncio to Bulgaria.

The National Guard Orchestra played the first Bulgarian anthem "Shumi Maritza".

The guardsmen with the coffin on their shoulder carried it up the stairs and placed it in the central lobby of the palace.

After the memorial ceremony, the palace doors will open to citizens wishing to pay their last respects to the coffin of the late Bulgarian King. A line of people wishing to pay their respects formed outside the palace entrance.

The memorial ceremony was attended by former Bulgarian President (2012 to 2017) Rosen Plevneliev, Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev, Sofia city councillors, politicians, public figures, journalists and citizens.

After abdicating in favour of his son Boris III in October 1918, Ferdinand lived in exile in Germany and died in the Bavarian city of Coburg on September 10, 1948, aged 87. He was laid in a temporary sarcophagus in front of his parents’ tomb in the crypt of Coburg’s St Augustine Church. His last wish was to be buried in Bulgaria. On Monday, with a church service, the residents of Coburg bid farewell to the remains of King Ferdinand I before they were brought to Sofia.