The ministry said in a statement that it had filed a claim on the land in court, arguing that the restitution of part, if not all, of the forest in 1998 had been "unlawful".

It also said it would was seeking 5.0 million leva (2.5 million euros, 3.7 million dollars) in damages from the family of the former king, because they allowed the logging of some 30,000 cubic metres of wood from the forests since getting them back.

The restitution of royal property to the Saxe Coburg family has been a major bone of contention in Bulgaria.

A spokeswoman for Saxe Coburg, Tsvetelina Uzunova, told AFP that the former king was also keen for the court to decide whether the restitution had in fact been legal.

Simeon II was only six years old when he came to the throne after his father died in 1943. The royal family was exiled by the communists in 1946 and he spent the next 50 years in exile.

Saxe Coburg returned to Bulgaria in 1997 and in 2001 became the first European royal to be elected prime minister.

The king, who is now 72, his sister Maria-Louisa and other members of the royal family were handed back hundreds of hectares of land and forests and several royal residences and holiday villas that had been nationalised by the communists.

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