Princess Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma

Marie Louise was born in Rome in 1870 with the full name Maria Luisa Pia Teresa Anna Ferdinanda Francesca Antonietta Margherita Giuseppina Carolina. Bianca Lucia Apollonia di Borbone-Parma is the firstborn child of Robert I, Duke of Parma, and his initial spouse, Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Maria Luisa assumed the title of Princess of Bulgaria when she married Ferdinand I of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1893. Ferdinand was the prince-regnant at the time and later became Tsar after Bulgaria declared independence in 1908. She was the progenitor of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria.

King Ferdinand and Princess Maria Luis had a total of four offspring. In response to the demands of his countrymen and in pursuit of recognition as Bulgaria’s ruler by the Russian emperor, Ferdinand sought to have his eldest son, Boris, undergo conversion to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church during the summer of 1895. Marie Louise, who was expecting a child at the time, vehemently opposed her husband’s activities, with the backing of her father and her mother-in-law.

The second offspring of Marie Louise and Ferdinand was baptized according to Roman Catholic customs. Nevertheless, unable to evade Boris’s persuasion, Marie Louise, who had already expressed her intention to depart the country, promptly departed Sofia on the same day for Beaulieu. Marie Louise arrived back in Bulgaria in May 1896. During the summer, she traveled to London with her husband to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The following January, she gave birth to Princess Eudoxia.

In July 1898, accompanied by her spouse and their four-year-old child, Boris, she traveled to St Petersburg after receiving an invitation from Nicholas II of Russia. The disillusionment she experienced in her personal life, along with the responsibility of raising four children within a span of five years, had a detrimental impact on her delicate health. Marie Louise passed away in Sofia due to pneumonia, only one day after delivering her fourth child. At the young age of 29, she was interred at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Louis of France in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Upon assuming the title of Bulgarian princess, Maria Louisa took on the role of regimental chief for the Varna Eighth Infantry Primorski unit. She has been honored by having one of the major thoroughfares in the city named after her. Princess Marie Louise is a descendant of the renowned French king Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, through six generations.

• Princess Marie Louise – Wiki