Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov awarded Friday former monarch Simeon Saxe-Coburg the Stara Planina medal, first degree, the country's highest civilian distinction.

Saxe-Coburg receives the medal for his contribution to democracy and reform in Bulgaria, as well as his role in Bulgaria's accession to NATO and the EU, the Presidency's press service said in a statement.

Simeon called the statements that he entered Bulgarian politics only to get back his estates.

"At this age I am fully free to do whatever I want and to turn to other socially useful deeds, if I feel I do not get the needed support from my party," he said.

The former king returned to Bulgaria in 2001, storming the political establishment and breaking the traditional bipolar system based on the left-right divide, serving as prime minister until 2005.

The award is ostensibly timed to coincide with Saxe-Coburg's 70th anniversary, but also serves as a show of support for the ex-king, who faces rebellion from unhappy MPs from his National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP).

NMSP is part of the three-way ruling coalition with the Socialists, Parvanov's former party, and the ethnic Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), engineered by the Bulgarian president after the indecisive parliamentary elections in 2005.

Saxe-Coburg turned 70 on June 16.

Bulgaria's former monarch Simeon Saxe-Coburg will receive on Friday the Stara Planina medal, first degree, the country's highest civilian distinction. Photo by Nadya Kotseva (Sofia Photo Agency)

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