Who is Prince Boris, Amalia’s “friend”?

During the wedding of the Duchess of Medinaceli, Princess Amalia walked on the arm of Prince Boris of Bulgaria. Who is he and what is his family story? Moderator Petra delved into the history of the Bulgarian royals.

Who are they?

Simeon of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the last Tsar of Bulgaria from 1943 to 1946. His life story is both moving and special. At the age of 6, Simon II, as he was then called, ascended the throne because his father died suddenly (1943). According to official documents, he suffered a heart attack, but some people also claimed that he had been poisoned by the Nazis. Shortly before his death he met with Hitler. Tsar Boris III and his wife Johanna refused to extradite Bulgarian Jews and Johanna even helped Jews flee to Argentina.

6 year old king

Of course, Simeon himself could not yet rule. At 6 years old he was way too young. That is why his uncle Cyril became regent. Uncle Cyril was assassinated along with most of Bulgaria’s government leaders in 1944, during a Soviet-backed coup. He was executed as a traitor. Simeon was initially retained on the throne. A referendum, of which it is not clear whether this was a fair referendum, determined that the monarchy was abolished in 1946. However, the royal family did not want Simeon II to abdicate. Mother Johanna and her 2 children (Marie Louise and Simeon) were given 48 hours to leave the country, and fled the country.

Simeon stayed with his mother and sister in Egypt (Alexandria), where their maternal grandfather was in exile. In 1951, Spain granted him asylum, and he went to study in Madrid. He studied law and political science at the Lycée Français in Madrid. In 1958/1959 he attended Valley Forge Military Academy in the United States. He then became a successful businessman. However, ex-king Simeon never formally abdicated.

Family

Simeon met the Spanish noble Doña Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela. In 1962, Simeon and Margarita married.

Together Simeon and Margarita had 4 sons and 1 daughter: Kardam, Kyril, Kubrat, Konstantin-Assen and Kalina.

• Prince Kardam of Bulgaria, Prince of Tirnovo (1962-2015). Kardam married Miriam Ungria y Lopez (born 1963) in 1996. They have two sons: Boris (1997) and Beltran (1999).
• Prince Kyril of Bulgaria, Prince of Preslav (1964). Kyril married Rosario Nadal y Fuster-Puigdorfila (born 1968) in 1989. They had two daughters and a son together: Mafalda-Cecilia (1994) and Olympia (1995) Tassilo (2002).
• Prince Kubrat of Bulgaria, Prince of Panagyurishte (1965). Kubrat married Carla-Maria Royo-Villanova y Urrestarazu (born 1969) in 1993. They have three sons: Mirko (1995), Lukas (1997) and Tirso (2000).
• Prince Konstantin-Assen of Bulgaria, Prince of Vidin (1967) married Maria Garcia de la Rasilla y Gortazer (1970) in 1994. They have twins: son Umberto and daughter Sophia (1999).
• Princess Kalina of Bulgaria (1972) married Antonio ‘Kitin’ Muñoz y Valcárcel (1958) in 2002. They had a son, Simeon, in 2007.

Prime Minister of Bulgaria

That’s it for Simeon in Bulgaria, you might say. Luckily not! When communism fell in Bulgaria in 1989, Simeon returned to public view. He was regarded by the Bulgarians as a distant observer. Simeon did not insist on anything or claim anything. This made him very popular. In 1996 he visited Bulgaria, which became a true triumph. Simeon did not insist on the restoration of the monarchy. He did indicate that he wanted to play a political role. Not a strange choice given his political studies. However, major political parties saw him as a competitor and decided that a president had to live in the country for at least 5 years. Simeon could not comply with this at that time.

Simeon, however, was patient. In 2001, the new National Movement Simeon II chose him as its leader. During the elections, the NDST received 119 of the 240 seats in parliament. Simeon became the new Prime Minister. His party wanted to eradicate corruption and improve living standards. In 2004, Bulgaria joined NATO under the leadership of Prime Minister Simeon. He was Prime Minister until 2005.

King Simeon still has a residence in Madrid. However, part of the time he also lives in the Vrana Palace in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Ties with Jordan’s royal family are close. Not least because of the second marriage of their daughter-in-law Miriam. For example, Simeon and Margarita were also present at the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein to Rajwa last year.

Prince Kardam

The ties with the Oranjes are also close. Not least because they have gone through a similar experience. Prince Friso had a skiing accident in 2012, which left him in a coma for about 1.5 years before he died in the summer of 2013. Prince Kardam, the eldest son of Simeon and Margarita, had a serious car accident on August 15, 2008 in El Molar, near Madrid. His wife Miriam was also in the car. The car crashed into a tree and overturned. Prince Kardam was flown to Doce de Octubre Hospital, while Miriam was taken to La Paz Hospital.

Kardam suffered severe brain trauma and injuries to his hands. Miriam broke her elbow, ribs and had a collapsed lung. She was discharged from hospital on September 4 after treatments. Kardam was operated on the night of the accident. He was kept in an induced coma according to the hospital doctors. His hands were paralyzed and he lost two fingers. He was released from hospital in January 2009. He was able to stand, communicate and was expected to continue his recovery at home.

After a critical setback, he was hospitalized again. He remained in a coma until his death, eventually dying of a lung infection in Madrid hospital on April 7, 2015. He was buried at Saint Isidore Cemetery in Madrid. Both the Spanish and Dutch royals were present.

Miriam

Let’s move on to Miriam, the wife of the late Prince Kardam. Miriam is a gemologist and jewelry designer. In 2004 she started her own jewelry label, MdeU. Máxima purchased various jewelry from this store.

Through her marriage to Prince Kardam, Miriam became a member of the Bulgarian royal family. Her husband’s death in 2015 made her son Prince Boris the heir to the throne.

Last year, on September 3, 2022, Miriam remarried. She married Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad in the presence of King Abdullah of Jordan. He is a first cousin of King Abdullah. Miriam is now a member of the Jordanian royal family.

Prince Boris

Prince Boris of Turnovo, the eldest son of Prince Kardam and Princess Miriam, is the heir apparent of the non-reigning royal family of Bulgaria. He was born on October 12, 1997 in Madrid. Boris attended high school at Lycée Français Molière in Villanueva de la Cañada, near Madrid. He obtained his baccalaureate degree in Austria. He then studied at the Wimbledon College of Arts in England from 2016 – 2019.

He is now a visual artist and lives and works in Madrid. Boris has his own Instagram account (@boris.saxe) where his works can be seen. His sculptures were exhibited for the first time at the Le Bis exhibition in Paris. In the summer of 2022 he had his own exhibition at the Apethorpe Palace in Peterborough, England.

Because their mothers are good friends, Prince Boris and Princess Amalia regularly meet. During the Duchess of Medinaceli’s wedding, they walked arm in arm, fueling rumors that the two were in a relationship. As long as there are no further indications of a love story, we refer the rumors to the realm of fables.

Prince Boris pictured with his grandparents for his grandmother Margarita’s 89th birthday on January 14, 2024.