Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz

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Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz
Princess consort of Bulgaria
Tenure	28 February 1908 – 22 September 1908
Tsaritsa consort of Bulgaria
Tenure	22 September 1908 – 12 September 1917
Born	(1860-08-22)22 August 1860 Trebschen, Kingdom of Prussia
Died	12 September 1917(1917-09-12) (aged 57) Euxinograd, Kingdom of Bulgaria
Burial	Boyana Church
Spouse	Ferdinand I of Bulgaria
Names Eleonore Caroline Gasparine Louise Reuss
House	Reuss-Köstritz
Father	Prince Heinrich IV Reuss of Köstritz
Mother	Princess Luise Caroline Reuss of Greiz
Religion	Eastern Orthodox prev. Lutheranism

Princess Eleonore Caroline Gasparine Louise Reuss-Köstritz (Bulgarian: Елеонора Българска; 22 August 1860 – 12 September 1917) was Tsaritsa (Queen) of Bulgaria, as the second wife of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and member of the ancient House of Reuss by birth.

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Born in Trebschen Castle, in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg (present-day Poland), the daughter of Prince Heinrich IV Reuss zu Köstritz (1821-1894) and Princess Luise Caroline Reuss zu Greiz (1822-1875), widowed Princess of Saxe-Altenburg. She was also a younger sister to Prince Heinrich XXIV Reuss of Köstritz and a first cousin to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia. Eleonore's father Heinrich IV and Marie's mother Auguste were brother and sister. She was described as "a plain but practical... capable and kind-hearted woman."

At the age of seventeen, Eleonore was engaged to Russian nobleman, Mark Alexandrovich Ospenyi. The day after the engagement he was summoned to Russia to fight in the Russo-Turkish War. Ospeni was wounded during a battle at the village of Telish and later died from these wounds.^{[citation needed]}

Following the death of his first wife, Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, Tsar Ferdinand sought another wife to carry out the official duties required of the consort of a head of state. As a man who was no longer required to produce heirs, Ferdinand stipulated to his assistant that he wanted a bride who did not expect affection or attention.^[1]

A list of candidates was whittled down to Eleonore and she and Ferdinand subsequently married at a Catholic ceremony on 28 February 1908 at St. Augustine's Church in Coburg and a Protestant ceremony on 1 March 1908 at Osterstein Castle, Reuss family estate. Initially titled Princess of Bulgaria, Eleonore assumed the title Tsaritsa ("Queen") on 5 October 1908 following Bulgaria's declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Eleonore remained neglected by Ferdinand throughout their marriage, leaving her to raise her stepchildren and devote herself to the welfare of the Bulgarian people. Eleonore came into her own during the Balkans and First World Wars when, working tirelessly as a nurse, she was a cause of great comfort for many injured and dying Bulgarian soldiers. It was said that she had "a special gift for relieving suffering".

Tsaritsa Eleonore became seriously ill during the final years of World War I, dying in Euxinograd, Bulgaria on 12 September 1917. Her last wish was to be buried in the cemetery of a 12th-century church at Boyana, near Sofia. During the Socialist period, however, the grave was broken into, her jewelry stolen and then the memorial stone bulldozed back in the grave, with no visible marks left over the ground. However, after the democratic changes in 1989, the original memorial stone was excavated and the site was restored back to the original state.

Coat of Arms of Queen Eleonore of Bulgaria

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eleonora of Bulgaria.

• Aronson, T. (1986) Crowns in conflict: the triumph and the tragedy of European monarchy, 1910–1918, J. Murray, London. ISBN 0-7195-4279-0
• Constant, S. (1979) Foxy Ferdinand, 1861–1948, Tsar of Bulgaria, Sidgwick and Jackson, London. ISBN 0-283-98515-1

• Newspaper clippings about Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW