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KING FERDINAND
[chap. ii.
ambitions and schemes which would have evoked shrieks
of laughter if he had ever dared to disclose them. It
was only from his mother that he got encouragement
and sympathy. And she was the only being that he
ever really loved, and who had any influence over him.
From the day of Princess Clementine’s death, a void was
created in Ferdinand’s heart which nothing could ever fill.
On the abdication of Prince Alexander of Battenberg,
the European diplomatic world was astonished at the
proceedings of the young Prince of Saxe-Coburg, who
presented himself as a candidate. The Courts laughed
—ours especially, although Prince Lobanoff, our
Ambassador in Vienna and an intimate friend of Princess
Clementine’s, had upheld to a certain extent the
ambitions of young Ferdinand, whom he represented in his
dispatches as possessing far more personality than
public opinion would have supposed. In Vienna they
were certainly glad to have at hand some one of no
importance who would be willing to embark on the
venture ; if he failed, it would not be a serious rebuff for
Austrian policy ; if he succeeded,—then there would be
at the head of Bulgaria a Catholic prince, related to the
Austrian Royal Family, and naturally prejudiced against
Russia, who at this very moment was declaring his
election and installation in Bulgaria to be illegal.
We are all acquainted with the beginning of Prince
Ferdinand’s reign and his complete effacement before
Stamboulov’s omnipotence. We know of his marriage
with a princess of Bourbon-Parma—a young lady
endowed with neither beauty nor health, but whose
intelligence and high moral qualities were indisputable.
She had a true affection for her husband, who finally
reciprocated it a little and who even deigned occasionally
to take her advice. The people around her loved her,
and even in her new country she succeeded in making
herself liked.
But Princess Marie-Louise’s virtues were not
sufficient in themselves to uphold the tottering throne of the
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