Born in Trebschen, in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg, the daughter of Prince Heinrich IV Reuss zu Köstritz and Princess Luise Caroline Reuss zu Greiz. She was also a younger sister to Prince Heinrich XXIV Reuss of Köstritz and a first cousin to Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Eleonore was described as "a plain but practical... capable and kind-hearted woman." At the age of seventeen, Eleonore was engaged to Russian nobleman, Mark Alexandrovich :ru:Оспенный|Ospenyi. The day after the engagement he was summoned to Russia to fight in the Russo-Turkish War. Ospeni was wounded during a battle at the village of :bg:Телиш|Telish and later died from these wounds. Following the death of his first wife, Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, Tsar Ferdinand sought another wife to carry out the official duties required of the consort of a head of state. As a man who was no longer required to produce heirs, Ferdinand stipulated to his assistant that he wanted a bride who did not expect affection or attention. A list of candidates was whittled down to Eleonore and she and Ferdinand subsequently married at a Catholic ceremony on 28 February 1908 at St. Augustine's Church in Coburg and a Protestant ceremony on 1 March 1908 at Osterstein Castle. Initially titled Princess of Bulgaria, Eleonore assumed the title Tsaritsa on 5 October 1908 following Bulgaria's declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire. Eleonore remained neglected by Ferdinand throughout their marriage, leaving her to raise her stepchildren and devote herself to the welfare of the Bulgarian people. Eleonore came into her own during the Balkans and First World Wars when, working tirelessly as a nurse, she was a cause of great comfort for many injured and dying Bulgarian soldiers. It was said that she had "a special gift for relieving suffering". Tsaritsa Eleonore became seriously ill during the final years of World War I, dying in Euxinograd, Bulgaria on 12 September 1917. Her last wish was to be buried in the cemetery of a 12th-century church at Boyana, near Sofia. During the Socialist period, however, the grave was broken into, her jewelry stolen and then the memorial stone bulldozed back in the grave, with no visible marks left over the ground. However, after the democratic changes in 1989, the original memorial stone was excavated and the site was restored back to the original state.
