- Obituary: Kardam of Bulgaria, son of former King Simeon, dies at 52
- Album: This was the life of Kardam from Bulgaria, in pictures
This Wednesday, April 7, marks five years of sad news: the death of Kardam of Bulgaria, son of King Simeon and heir to the Bulgarian throne with the title of prince of Tírnovo. He was only 52 years old and although he died of pneumonia, in reality it was the aftermath of the terrible accident he suffered in August 2008 that ended his life. He was returning with his wife, Miriam Ungría, from his Riaza estate in Segovia and his car went off the road hitting a tree, which caused him a very serious traumatic brain injury that condemned him to a vegetative life.
The titanic struggle of his wife, who proved everything, even settled for a year in the Galician village of Cacheiras, where Kardam underwent a novel stem cell therapy at the Foltra foundation, had no results. A drama that made a huge impact, as Kardam from Saxony-Coburg and Miriam Ungría, were a very popular couple in Spanish social life, given the close ties of the Bulgaria with the Spanish royal family. At Kardam's funeral, held at the Jerónimos in June, the Infanta Cristina and King Felipe met publicly for the first time, which had not happened since Monarch was proclaimed since their relationship was broken after the Nóos scandal.
Simeon of Bulgaria was proclaimed tsar at 6 years old, since his father, King Boris, died suspiciously in 1943, after an interview with Hitler. Subsequently, the communists killed his family and Simeon had to escape calling in Madrid in 1951, where Franco granted him political asylum . He married in 1962 with Margarita Gómez Acebo, daughter of the Marquises of Cortina and cousin of Luis, husband of the Infanta Pilar, and in Spain they raised their five children, Kardam, Kyril, Kubrat, Konstantin and Kalina, the punk princess, married with the adventurer Kitín Muñoz, all of them regulars of coated paper.
The deposed king Simeon starred in a curious adventure in 2001, when he appeared in his country's elections and was elected head of government of the Bulgarian republic, something unprecedented in a deposed monarch. After leaving politics in 2009, he has lived on horseback between Madrid and Sofia, where he carries out great public activity, despite the fact that he currently maintains a legal battle with the state that has brought him to the Strasbourg court, after being stripped of his properties, the Vrana palace, farms and three castles, which were initially returned to him.
Kardam had a strict education typical of a future monarch, since from a young age his father spoke to him in English, German, French and Bulgarian, and his mother in Spanish. Passionate about gardening, he went on to do a master's degree in agriculture, although aware of the remoteness of reaching the throne, he opted for a degree in economics, later holding positions in telephone companies such as Amena and Airtel. In love with his wife, Miriam, when he saw her for the first time he commented "with this girl I am going to get married". Daughter of billionaire Bernardo Ungría, owner of "patents and trademarks", and aunt of Javier, husband of Elena Tablada, was the only and only girl of seven brothers. They were married in Madrid by the Orthodox rite in 1996, a ceremony attended by Queen Sofía and the Infantas, Elena and Cristina. They had two children, Boris, current prince of Tirnovo and Beltrán.
After the accident, the life of the couple turned upside down, as they disappeared from social life and Miriam locked herself to turn over in Kardam, even sending her children to inmates to Austria so that they did not suffer for the state of their father. He never lost hope. "When I hug him and he sheds a tear, I know he's still there and he loves me , " he said.
Her death was a blow that disrupted her existence again, since Miriam, an art graduate and gemologist by profession, settled in London, where she is involved in her jewelry firm, MdeU. He frequently travels to Madrid, to see family and friends. When her mother, Carmen López Oleaga, passed away last October, there was no lack of Queen Sofía and Infanta Elena to accompany her to the funeral home.
In London he is with his children, enrolled in British universities, Boris, 22, and Beltrán, 20, two boys who, perhaps due to the harsh circumstances of their childhood, are highly educated and responsible. Beltrán studies physics, and Boris, about to finish his art career, speaks four languages and is a guitar virtuoso. Although he is aware of his role as a Bulgarian heir, he is more devoted to carving out a professional future, as his father humorously commented "we are kings who have taken the plot from us."
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