HRH Prince Kardam of Bulgaria (1962-2015)

National Symphony Ball, Washington, D.C. 1992
@Marlene A. Eilers Koenig

The couple's final Christmas card

HRH Prince Kardam of Bulgaria,. Prince of Tirnovo, died at 11:30 a.m., in Sanchinarro Hospital in Madrid.  He was 52 years old.

Prince Kardam was the eldest child and heir apparent of King Simeon II of Bulgaria and Queen Margarita.  He was born at Madrid on December 2, 1962.  

He attend the French Lyceum school in Madrid.  He studied philosophy and economics at Clark University, where he earned a bachelor's degree, and received a master's degree in Agricultural economics from Penn State.   He worked as an agricultural economist in Virginia and Argentina before he returned to Madrid.

 Kardam married Doña Miriam de Ungria y Lopez, a gemologist, in an Orthodox ceremony on July 11, 1996,

On August 15, 2008,  Prince Kardam and Princess Miriam were involved in a car accident in El Molar, near Madrid.  Their car crashed into a tree, then turned over.  They were taken to two separate hospitals, as Kardam's injuries were life-threatening.  (Princess Miriam suffered broken ribs, an broken elbow and a collapsed lung.)  

Prince Kardam suffered injuries to his hands, but it was the severe brain and skull traumas that led to the doctors placing the prince in an artificial coma, after he underwent surgery.

Early reports stated he was in critical but stable condition.  By January 2009,  Kardam went home, and was slowly recovering.  He was able to stand (his hands were paralyzed), and he was able to communicate with his family.   In January 2010, he suffered a major setback, and fell into a coma.  He was brought back to the hospital, where he remained, never recovering from the coma.

The cause of death was a lung infection.

Prince Kardam is survived by his wife, Miriam and their two sons,  Prince Boris, 17, and Prince Beltran, 16; his parents, King Simeon and Queen Margarita; three brothers and a sister, Princes Kyril, Kubrat & Konstantin-Assen and Princess Kalina, and their families.

Princess Miriam, King Simeon, Queen Margarita, and Princes Kyril, Kubrat and Konstantin were at Kardam's bedside when he died.

Kardam was raised in the Orthodox faith, and his two sons were baptized in the Orthodox church.   Princess Miriam, who was baptized as a Roman Catholic, converted to Orthodoxy several years ago.

http://www.revistavanityfair.es/personajes/articulos/miriam-de-ungria-yo-tenia-que-estar-bien-para-hacer-que-kardam-de-bulgaria-estuviese-lo-mejor-posible/20639

My sincere condolences to Bulgarian royal family.
http://www.abc.es/estilo/casas-reales/20150407/abci-muere-kardam-bulgaria-201504071420.html