Little Boris is sick

February 26, 1901

In her column in the Chicago Daily Tribune, the Marquise de Fontenoy writes: "Poor little Prince Boris, son and heir of Ferdinand of Bulgaria has been stricken with typhoid fever at Philipopolis, and being a delicate child there are considerable apprehensions as to his recovery. In the event of succumbing to this malady, to which old world royalty seems to be so particularly prone, his younger brother, Cyril, now six years old, would become heir apparent."
The Marquise further notes that Prince Cyril is Roman Catholic, but according to constitutional requirements, the young prince would be required to convert to the Orthodox faith.
This action would certainly be controversial, as King Ferdinand was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church after he had Prince Boris rebaptized, according to the rights of the Orthodox church. Ferdinand's wife, Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon Parma, a "devout and narrow-minded Roman Catholic," believed that her eldest son's "ernst salvation had been forfeited" when he joined the Orthodox church. She fled the marital home, but was persuaded to return to Bulgaria by the Pope, as he reminded her of her marital duty, and her duty to her other three children, who were being raised as Roman Catholics. The Marquise has suggested that Marie Louise pleaded with her husband to abdicate "rather than imperil the child's hereafter," as she "devoted her energies to quietly instilling Catholic teachings" in young Boris' mind.
In order to provide the young prince with a more Bulgarian and Orthodox, education, Boris' education was turned over to Russian governesses and Orthodox priests, "who watched with jealous care to prevent the unhappy mother from exercising in any way her influence on the little boy."