The first king of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom has been buried since 1948 in the crypt of the church "St. Augustine" in the Bavarian city of Coburg. There, King Ferdinand was placed in a temporary sarcophagus in front of the tomb of his parents – Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Clementine of Orléans.
On May 29, the remains of Tsar Ferdinand will be transferred from the city of Coburg to Sofia by a military plane that will land in front of the government VIP at Sofia airport at around 2:00 p.m. The coffin will be solemnly removed and placed in a hearse, which will proceed to the Vrana Palace at around 3:00 p.m.
The funeral procession will start at the main entrance of the palace park and arrive at the Vrana Palace. There, she will be received by Tsar Simeon II and the royal family, along with His Excellency. Metropolitan of Western and Central Europe Antony, official envoy of the Holy Synod and the Apostolic Nuncio to Bulgaria, Archbishop Luciano Suriani.
The funeral ceremony will be held in front of the main entrance of "Vrana", after which the coffin will be placed in the central hall, where a brief farewell will take place in a family circle. After that, the doors of the palace will be open to citizens who wish to pay their last respects in front of the coffin of the late Tsar Ferdinand.
In the Hall of the Order of the Palace, Associate Professor Ivaylo Shalafov, Director of the "Tsar Boris and Queen Joanna" Fund and Professor Petar Stoyanovich, President of the Historical Society of the Fund, will meet with the media.
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