Kalina has just been appointed president of the Order of Malta Foundation in Bulgaria and entered as a member of The Explorers Club and is preparing a book about her country and an expedition to the Atlantic.
Kalina Saxony-Coburg-Gotha and Gomez Acebo, the full name of Kalina from Bulgaria, are experiencing great moments in all aspects. She is happy in her family life, together with her husband, Kitín Munoz, and their son, Simeon Hassan, her schedule is full of very enriching plans and projects that she is excited about.
One of the powerful reasons why the daughter of King Simeon of Bulgaria and Margarita Gómez-Acebo has been in the news recently has been for becoming the first princess to have entered the prestigious The Explorers Club, something that lives "with illusion and pride, as he tells us. We are talking about an organization born in 1904 in New York, as a meeting point for explorers and scientists, of which her husband, the explorer Kitín Muñoz, is a part, almost thirty years ago.
On the day we conducted this interview, she found herself on the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria, in the Varna necropolis, considered the "oldest gold of humanity." That same day, Princess Kalina received a call from the president of The Explorers Club from New York to discuss with her the details of this magnificent discovery.
“Now we will be able to prepare projects together with the Explorers Club, give impetus to initiatives such as the trip to Antarctica, or make the Living Heritage of Bulgaria known”, Kalina tells us. She also celebrates having been appointed president of the Foundation of the Order of Malta in Bulgaria, a new recognition and responsibility for which she is very satisfied.
To access The Explorers Club, Princess Kalina has had as godparents astronaut Richard Garriott and his wife, Laetitia, who is a defense adviser to Joe Biden and a partner of Elon Musk: Richard is an astronaut who flew on board the mission Soyuz TMA-13 to the International Space Station. Space is in his blood, he is the son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott. Richard is also a great businessman and artist, she tells us.
Surrounded by celebrities in her new adventure in New York
“Laetitia is an incredible, courageous woman, an early investor in SpaceX and co-founder of Global Space Ventures, she supports deep-tech companies in fields ranging from artificial intelligence and aerospace to biotechnology. She is an adviser on Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security for the United States. It is a pride to have the trust of such outstanding people in her profession. Both are friends of Kitín and mine, she emphasizes.
To achieve this achievement, many factors were taken into account, such as the 15 years of coexistence with tribes of the Sahara. Kalina from Bulgaria reveals what she misses the most from that time: The long days in the Sahara, living together and meeting the chiefs of 31 tribes spread over a large expanse of desert that goes from Goulimin to the border with Mauritania and Algeria. My involvement with Kitín was to rescue the Tan Tan Moussem, the festival of the Sahara tribes, and get it declared Intangible Heritage by Unesco.
A milestone that has also been taken into account is that she managed to have the Tbourida, a staging of military cavalcades dating back to the 15th century, declared UNESCO Intangible Heritage: For me, it was a great satisfaction. For 15 years I have lived in remote places and towns. There, each town and sometimes villages have its team, made up of peasants and humble people, along with doctors, lawyers, etc. I knew the teams and they knew me because they always saw me on the horse. I became interested and promoted the women's Tbourida. I told King Mohamed VI that it would be good to present the Tbourida to Unesco, and he did not hesitate. Travel with Kitín to Paris, to present the candidacy. Two years later, it was declared the Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
The adventures of Kalina from Bulgaria and her husband
Beyond their emotional relationship as a couple, the affinities between Princess Kalina and her husband are enormous. That is why they have enjoyed the expeditions they have shared so much, of which the daughter of King Simeon of Bulgaria wants to highlight the following: When I sailed aboard the Mata-Rangi reed raft, I was struck by the creaking of all the rigging and structure of the bamboo hut, tied with vines and without any nails in the whole raft. That's when I realized how primitive.
Beyond their emotional relationship as a couple, the affinities between Princess Kalina and her husband are enormous. That is why they have enjoyed the expeditions they have shared so much, of which the daughter of King Simeon of Bulgaria wants to highlight the following: When I sailed aboard the Mata-Rangi reed raft, I was struck by the creaking of all the rigging and structure of the bamboo hut, tied with vines and without any nails in the whole raft. That's when I realized how primitive the boat was and I understood Kitin's words when he says that a reed raft is a floating island that sails. I was also impressed by its indigenous crew, Polynesian sailors, and Aymara from the Andes, and how they moved around the raft.
Kalina from Bulgaria's passion for the sport is also closely linked to her father, King Simeon, with whom she went on numerous mountain excursions in her youth: "They are fond memories of my childhood and youth, from which I have learned a lot about nature, which have marked my life.
Princess Kalina has been preparing for a trip to Antarctica for a long time, "with great enthusiasm and emotion... This last season, from November to February or March, we had to go on a mission, on the first scientific ship in Bulgaria, Kirilo, and Methodio, but Professor Pimperev, director of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, had to have an operation for a few days before, so I told him that Antarctica can wait, we will go together.
Kalina from Bulgaria has also been working on a book about her country for a long time, about which we ask her to tell us what state it is in and what surprises it will bring us, but she does not go into too much detail: Advanced. Bulgaria always surprises.
A little over a year ago, the couple were delighted with their new pet, a Karakachan puppy, who has integrated wonderfully into the family, and has grown a lot: He sleeps peacefully in the snow, and he is an incredible breed. We also have a parrot, which flies freely throughout the house, and the occasional Toy puppy, which plays together with the macaw."
Kalina from Bulgaria has always taken great care in her diet and training with an eminence, the veteran Carlos Florez, so we ask her to make some recommendations to keep us in shape: Persistence and training routine. Load training. A balanced diet, without miracle diets. Physical rest is part of training. Sleep is essential, sleep soon. Carlos is an institution on the subject and continues to be my coach.
Kalina's Bulgarian feeling
This year marks the 10th anniversary of her request for Bulgarian nationality and the princess reveals how she experienced this momentous moment for her: "I felt like I was coming home when I got married in Bulgaria when I had my son here, and now that I live from new in Bulgaria. Bulgarian nationality makes all these feelings official.
His son, Simeon Hassan (named after his grandfather and King Hassan II of Morocco, with whom his family shared a great friendship), turned 16 on March 14 and his mother proudly speaks to us about him. : Simeon is one more Bulgarian, he is fully integrated. He is happy in the country of his ancestors, his family, and his own since he was born in Bulgaria.
On October 26, she will celebrate 21 years of her marriage to Kitín Muñoz and when we ask her at what point they are in her relationship, she synthesizes her answer with a single word: "Happiness." Her parents have been married for no less than 60 years and when we ask her about the secret of her relationship, she answers, amused: "It's so secret, only they know it." Regarding her absence from Spain, where she frequently comes, she is also very clear about what she misses the most.
Kalina from Bulgaria is part of the management committee of the Vrana Palace-Museum, the official residence of her father, Simeon from Bulgaria, his wife, Margarita, and their family, whose property they recovered after long disputes, after being deprived of it by the regime communist in 1947. A job that Kalina from Bulgaria finds very gratifying, for which she reveals to us: I am satisfied with what we are doing. This week I am going to Unesco in Paris to represent the Vrana Palace Museum.
As a great ambassador of her country that is hers, we asked Kalina from Bulgaria to give us any culinary recommendations and she choose three of her favorite places that a traveler should not miss. This is her answer: Yogurt, which is of Bulgarian origin. The mountains of the Rodopest, the Monasteries distributed throughout the geography (mountains, forests, lakes...), and the Black Sea.
Looking to the future, we ask her to reveal if she has any goals or dreams to fulfill and she categorically responds: "I'm happy the way I am."
