Kardam,

Prince of Tarnovo Prince of Tarnovo ( bg, Княз Търновски, Knyaz Tarnovski) is the title held by the first-born son of the Bulgarian monarch. This title is held only by the heir to the throne. Tarnovo (Veliko Tarnovo) was an old Bulgarian capital and ...

, Duke in Saxony (2 December 1962 – 7 April 2015) was the eldest son of

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Simeon II of Bulgaria Simeon Borisov von Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ( bg, Симеон Борисов Сакскобургготски, translit=Simeon Borisov Sakskoburggotski, ; born 16 June 1937) is a Bulgarian politician who reigned as the last tsar of the Kingdom of Bul ...

and his wife ''

Doña Don (; ; pt, Dom, links=no ; all from Latin ', roughly 'Lord'), abbreviated as D., is an honorific prefix primarily used in Spain and Hispanic America, and with different connotations also in Italy, Portugal and its former colonies, and Croatia ...

Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela (born 6 January 1935) is the wife of Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria, whom she married after he went into exile. As such, she is also sometimes styled Tsaritsa Margarita; in this context, she may be styled as Princess ...

. Kardam was born after the abolition of the Bulgarian monarchy. As such, it was only by courtesy that he was sometimes styled as if being a

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...

. He was known also as Kardam of Bulgaria and Kardam of

Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Велико Търново, Veliko Tărnovo, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a town in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred as the "''City of the Tsars''", Veliko Tarnovo ...

, the latter being the title of the heir apparent of the Bulgarian throne.

Life

He was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, was baptised into the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

faith and had a master's degree in

Agricultural Economics Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specif ...

from

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

Marriage and issue

, on 11 July 1996, Kardam married Miriam Ungría y López, born in

on 2 September 1963, a

gemologist Gemology or gemmology is the science dealing with natural and artificial gemstone materials. It is a geoscience and a branch of mineralogy. Some jewelers (and many non-jewelers) are academically trained gemologists and are qualified to identify a ...

and daughter of Bernardo Ungría y Goiburu, honorary president of the Colegio Heráldico de España y de las Indias and his wife, María del Carmen López y Oleaga, both of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

descent. They had two sons, who are first and second, respectively, in the line of succession to the now-defunct Bulgarian throne: * Boris (b. 12 October 1997 in

) * Beltrán (b. 23 March 1999 in

) Kardam was the godfather of Prince Achileas-Andreas of Greece and Denmark, son of

Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece ( el, Παύλος; born 20 May 1967) is the eldest son and second child of Constantine II, the last King of Greece from 1964 to 1973 and his wife, Anne-Marie of Denmark. He was heir apparent to the throne of G ...

Car wreck

On 15 August 2008, Kardam and his wife were involved in a serious car wreck in El Molar, near

. Prince Kardam was taken by helicopter to the Doce de Octubre Hospital, while his wife was taken to the La Paz Hospital. The car they were in crashed into a tree, then turned over just ten metres away from a nearby house. Kardam suffered severe brain-skull trauma and severe injuries to his hands, while his wife suffered a broken elbow, broken ribs and a collapsed lung. She was treated and released from the hospital on 4 September. Galya Dicheva, a spokeswoman for the

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, links=no ), was an Ernestine, Thuringian duchy ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-d ...

family, confirmed the information about the car wreck and explained that Kardam had undergone surgery in the evening following the wreck. According to doctors at the Doce de Octubre Hospital, Kardam was being kept in an

induced coma An induced comaalso known as a medically induced coma (MIC), barbiturate-induced coma, or drug-induced comais a temporary coma (a deep state of unconsciousness) brought on by a controlled dose of an anesthetic drug, often a barbiturate such as ...

in August, his hands were paralysed, and reports mentioned that he had lost two fingers. A Bulgarian news agency reported that he was released from the hospital in January 2009, was able to stand and communicate, and was recovering at home. About a year after his release from hospital, however, he suffered a critical setback and was re-hospitalised. He remained in a coma until his death on 7 April 2015. In May 2010, Bulgarian authorities issued a

summons A summons (also known in England and Wales as a claim form and in the Australian state of New South Wales as a court attendance notice (CAN)) is a legal document issued by a court (a ''judicial summons'') or by an administrative agency of governme ...

to the comatose Kardam over issues relating to the management of property returned to him, to his father and to his aunt (as heirs to Kings Ferdinand and Boris III) by the post-communist government. Former King and Prime Minister Simeon II and his sister Princess Maria Louisa objected to the summons on the grounds that Kardam was incapacitated.

Death

Prince Kardam died of a

lung infection Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is a term often used as a synonym for pneumonia but can also be applied to other types of infection including lung abscess and acute bronchitis. Symptoms include shortness of breath, weakness, fever, cough ...

in a hospital in Madrid on 7 April 2015, aged 52. After an Eastern Orthodox funeral, he was buried at

Saint Isidore Cemetery Saint Isidore Cemetery is a monumental cemetery in the Spanish capital Madrid. Its first courtyard was erected in 1811 and new expansions were added throughout the 19th Century. Its central courtyard, called “Patio de la Concepción” (Concepti ...

in Madrid.

Honours

Dynastic honours

Honours of the former

Bulgarian royal family The last Bulgarian royal family ( bg, Българско царско семейство, Balgarsko tsarsko semeystvo) is a line of the Koháry branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which ruled Bulgaria from 1887 to 1946. The last tsar, ...

: * Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the

Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius The Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius is an award conferred by the Republic of Bulgaria. History It has had three incarnations : * first on 18 May 1909 by the Kingdom of Bulgaria, * second on 13 December 1950 by the People's Republic of Bulga ...

* Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Alexander

Ancestors

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kardam of Tarnovo, Prince 1962 births 2015 deaths Bulgarian princes People with disorders of consciousness House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Bulgaria) Nobility from Madrid Road incident deaths in Spain People with traumatic brain injuries Sons of kings