Xenia was pregnant. Though it was still unknown whether the child would be a boy or a girl, the pressure on Ferdinand's shoulders eased at once.
As Bulgaria's most beloved king, Ferdinand had long lacked a direct heir. It was not only he who was anxious; the Bulgarian people were deeply worried as well.
In Europe, illegitimate children had no inheritance rights. If the queen did not become pregnant, then one had best prepare for the line to die out! There was no shortage of precedents—European royal houses had lost their crowns to other families time and again for want of an heir!
The Hardenberg Family was one such example. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had been built through marriage alliances; whenever the royal lines of kingdom after kingdom, duchy after duchy died out, their crowns fell into the hands of the Hardenberg Family.
Franz Joseph I had benefited from such marriage alliances, and had also been their victim!
Ferdinand had no interest in letting the realm he had fought to build be inherited by some collateral branch of the Gothenburg family. Nor did the Bulgarian people wish to see such a thing happen. For Bulgaria, it could well prove disastrous!
Medieval Spain had been among the greatest victims of succession disputes. In history, Spain's crown had fallen onto the head of Germany's Charles V. The Kingdom of Spain poured out money and manpower for the war to unify Germany, and in the end crippled its own empire!
Therefore, the moment the queen became pregnant, Ferdinand immediately made the good news public.
For Bulgaria, this was a double blessing. They had just won the Balkan Wars and completed the most crucial step of the Greater Bulgaria plan, and now they were about to welcome a prince or princess!
Before the child had