The remains of King Ferdinand will be brought to Bulgaria on May 29, BTA reported. The funeral ceremony starts at 15:30 in the royal palace “Vrana” and is open to citizens, confirmed the "Tsar Boris and Tsaritsa Ioanna" Fund.
The first king of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom has been lying unburied since 1948 in the crypt of the church "St. Augustine" in the Bavarian city of Coburg. There, King Ferdinand was laid in a temporary sarcophagus in front of the tomb of his parents - Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Clementine of Orléans, the announcement states.
On May 29, the mortal remains of King Ferdinand will be transported from the city of Coburg to Sofia by military plane. The coffin will be solemnly lowered and placed in a hearse, which will travel to the “Vrana” palace.
The funeral procession will start from the main entrance of the palace park and will reach the “Crow“ palace. There she will be welcomed by Simeon of Saxe-Coburg and his family, together with Western and Central European Metropolitan Anthony, official envoy of the Holy Synod, and by the Apostolic Nuncio in Bulgaria, Archbishop Monsignor Luciano Suriani.
The funeral service will be held in front of the central entrance of the “Vrana”, after which the casket will be placed in the central foyer, where a short farewell will take place in a family circle. Afterwards, the doors of the palace will be open to citizens wishing to pay their last respects in front of the coffin of the late King Ferdinand.