A True Stories documentary about Simeon II, King of Bulgaria for a couple of years before he was toppled and exiled in 1946 aged 9 when the Soviets invaded. 50 years later Simeon unexpectedly returned to Bulgaria and won the 2001 election to serve a term as Prime Minister.
What a fascinating story! I never even heard of this unique part of royal history. The disjointed narrative style of the documentary pieces together the various parts of the tale by interviewing various Bulgarians who remembered Simeon fondly, as well as Communists and the ex-King himself. So through these personal insights we learn of how the young boy king (Tsar) came to the throne so young, and how he was exiled to Egypt with his family. Archive interviews with the young Simeon show him to have been a very level headed businessman, not filled with anger towards his country, seeing himself as a victim of a certain set of circumstances more than anything else. His return to Bulgaria decades later saw him greeted by hoardes of adoring 'fans' eager for him to come back to them, but once in power as PM, a role that was seemingly thrust upon him unbidden as per the monarchy, the dream of Simeon's return turned sour. He found that it was difficult to bring about the social change that Bulgaria so needed in the post-Soviet world and his supporters, including one man with a royal tattoo, became disillusioned. A particularly interesting moment came for Simeon at the British Queen Mother's funeral when he was sat as PM on the world leader's side of Westminster Abbey, across from the other royals - his surname, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha indicates his relation to our own royal family. It's curious to see how fickle the finger of history can be to monarchies when comparing the UK's with Bulgaria's.
but...
The langourous style of the documentary is infuriating at times and cries out for the more conventional tropes of the genre such as captions indicating who speakers are and narration to link the pieces together.
briefly...
A compelling tale of an unconventional monarch told in a novel, albeit slightly annoying, style.
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