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In 1943 the Bulgarian king at the time, Boris III, died and his 9-year-old son, Simeon II, succeeded to the throne. A year later (1944) he and his family fleed from Bulgaria as the communists took over and changed the monarchy to a people's republic (it remained a people's republic until 1989, and is now a "plain" republic =o).
Simeon II, though dethroned, never renounced his title (he recently renounced his claims to returning the monarchy in Bulgaria) and enjoyed an ever-rising popularity when he started visiting Bulgaria in the post-communist years. He was smart enough to play the role of a public figure caring for the good of Bulgaria, but not associating himself with any of the political parties. Soooo, his time came when the first non-communist government after 1989 (and the first democratically-elected government to serve full term since 1879) failed with flying colors and the people lost any hope that it was ever going to get better. At that time, when it was obvious that neither the socialists (reformed communists), nor the rest could do any good for the country, Simeon took charge, made a party (National Movement Simeon II), and promised he could take the country out of the mess in 800 days. Well, his party won the overwhelming majority in the Parliament and he was elected prime-minister. That was more than 800 days ago... but that's another topic.