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- You could buy one of Miriam de Ungría’s tiaras without realizing that the desginer is a princess.
- Miriam became the Princess of Turnovo when she married Bulgaria’s Prince Kardam in 1996.
- However, she refused to use her royal title to promote her self-titled jewelry brand. There’s no mention of Miriam’s royal status or her husband’s family on her website or social media pages.
- Unlike Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton, who took their husband’s titles, Miriam said dropping her maiden name would be like “throwing away so many years of work.”
- Meet other royals from around the world by reading more of Insider’s Royally Told profiles.
Miriam, Princess of Turnovo doesn’t want you to to call her a princess.
The jewelry designer is a member of the Bulgarian royal family through her marriage to the late Prince Kardam, who was heir to the throne.
To the jewelry world, however, she has always been Miriam de Ungría, a Spanish-born gemologist and designer of 30 years.
This didn’t change when she became a royal, nor did it change when she started designing $5,600 tiaras for young women, brides, and aspiring princesses from around the world.
Princess Miriam spoke to Insider about what it was like to break from the norm and use her maiden name to launch her own brand.
Unlike Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton, Miriam refused to use her husband's title
Meghan Markle continues to use the "Duchess of Sussex" title instead of her maiden name, even after resigning from the royal family earlier this year.
But Miriam felt dropping her own maiden name would have been like "throwing away so many years of work" when she launched her jewelry brand, MdeU, in 2014.
MdeU — Miriam de Ungría
"I started my career when I was single and that is the reason why I kept my name when I launched my brand," Miriam told Insider.
"MdeU" stands for Miriam de Ungría, her family name.
"Changing my name would have been like throwing away so many years of work and expertise," she said. "I thought, 'How can I act as though the last 24 years never existed?'
"It's true that maybe I was not so much known internationally as a designer, but in Spain in the jewelry world if I was known it was by my single name."
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Miriam had been a princess for 18 years before launching MdeU.
However, she had been designing jewelry long before royal life came knocking. She studied at the European Centre of Gemology and Jewelry at the University of Oviedo before launching her first collection in 1991.
The designer married the late Prince Kardam in July 1996. Since Bulgaria was no longer a monarchy, the royal family's responsibilities were limited and Miriam was able to "live my everyday life working, taking care of my family and enjoying my friends."
"If I have to attend an event as HRH Princess of Turnovo," she added, "I do it with most respect, knowing the responsibility I assumed when I got married."
You can buy one of Miriam's tiaras without realizing the designer is a princess
Miriam's brand is known for a variety of jewelry items, including rings, bracelets, brooches — but the most striking are arguably the tiaras.
There's the Tiara of Roses, a $3,200 (€2,750) design that you can purchase in silver, rose gold, or rhodium, and the $5,664 (€ 4,775) Tiara Clover, a four-leaf clover design which is popular among brides.
MdeU — Miriam de Ungría
"When you write 'clover' if you take away the first and last letters, you have 'love,'" Miriam said.
"So it has a lot of meaning for brides, and also historically it means good luck and happiness."
The princess also designs custom tiaras for those who request them. However, she insists her clients are regular women, rather than the royals and aristocrats like you would expect.
"A tiara is something every girl dreams about," she said, adding that many of her clients purchase tiaras for special occasions, like an 18th or 21st birthday party.
Unless they have prior knowledge of Miriam's royal status, customers who find themselves browsing through the MdeU website will have no idea who she is.
There's no mention of her title or her husband's family on the website or her Instagram account.
Asked whether any of her clients are royal watchers, Miriam said it's unlikely.
"People know me by Miriam de Ungría," she said.
However, there's an unintentional clue in the brand's official logo
It's impossible not to notice the MdeU logo — an oval tiara perched over Miriam's name — on the website.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex recently faced criticism for continuing to use a crown logo in their official monogram and website after stepping down from royal duties.
Although Miriam wouldn't comment on the Sussexes' situation, she said using the tiara as a logo wasn't intended to be a reference to her own royal status.
MdeU — Miriam de Ungría
"Honestly, it was by chance," she said. "I was not thinking about any tiara that I had seen before, I was just trying to make a recognizable logo that was catchy and people would like.
"That's why I designed the Tiara of Roses, because it's the logo itself."
It's not unusual for nonworking royals to use crowns and tiaras as their logo. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie use one, while Princess Keisha of Nigeria uses a crown logo to promote her hair care business, "A Crown of Curls."
Still, it's interesting for a princess who is trying to keep her royal status private — and perhaps a true indicator that Miriam will always be a designer first, and a princess second.
Read more of the Royally Told series: