Bulgaria's king won't get his cottages back - European Court of Justice ruling.

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit by Bulgaria's last reigning monarch, Simeon Saxoburgotski, and his sister Maria-Louise Borisova Hrobok to recover their property - a hunting shack and a summer residence.

All royal estates in Bulgaria were transferred to state ownership after the communist takeover in 1947.

Saksoburgotski and his sister wanted to return their former holdings to the crown after a 1998 decision that found the previous transfer contrary to ownership.

Saksoburggotski, who became king at the age of 6-9 and prime minister from the age of 64 to 68 (from 2001 to 2005), was able to recover other properties in Bulgarian courts, such as the Vrana Palace in''Sofia.

The Strasbourg court, however, rejected his claim for two smaller estates: the Sitnyakovo summer residence in the Rila Mountains and the Saragöl hunting lodge.

In its ruling, the court says the country is not obliged to "restore the property that was transferred to them before their ratification" under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Although the court rejected the claim to recover the property, it disagreed with the ban on commercial exploitation of the forest land returned to the family.

According to the court ruling, the Bulgarian state must pay Saxoburgotski 5,000 euros to cover expenses.