KALINA Saxe-Coburg will be wed to Spanish sailor Kitin Munoz, former member of a crack commando unit of the Spanish army.

"As Kalina is the youngest child of Simeon Saxe-Coburg, it would not be logical for monarchs to come to her wedding. Royal families will be represented by other members who are her peers, most of them cousins of hers," Galia Dicheva, spokesperson for the family of Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, said Tuesday.

No crown symbols or titles of nobility will be used, just the two letters KK. The Spanish cards provide directions about how to get to Tsarska Bistritsa Residence," Dicheva said. About a dozen wedding witnesses are expected on each side. One of the witnesses on Kalina's side will be her mother's brother, Jose Luis Gomez-Acebo

The ceremony and the food

The ceremony will start on Saturday at noon at Tsarska Bistritsa Residence and will last for half an hour.

The menu for the wedding feast includes shopska salad, moussaka with Samokov potatoes, and Kalina and Kitin's favourite blueberry pancakes.

The head of the Catholic Diocese of Sofia and Plovdiv, Monsignor Georgi Yovchev, will wed the two.

Danail Danailov, chef and owner of the Plovdiv-based Kambana restaurant, will take care of the Shopska salad, moussaka and pancakes with blueberry jam - simple but typical Bulgarian dishes. Danailov has a 30-year record of service in restaurants. He met the royal family in May, 1997, when Queen Margarita visited Plovdiv. He won her heart with fresh goat milk and cheese, as well as special fruit jams prepared in Kambana. Because of them Princess Kalina gave up even the wedding cake. Instead of it she will treat her guests to pancakes with blueberry jam.

The guest list

Guests expected for the wedding in Bulgaria include HRH the Infanta Cristina of the Spanish royal family and her husband.

Two princesses will represent the descendants of the French royal family. The Duke of Hesse and his wife, and Duke Franz von Bayer will come from Germany. Count Bernadotte, and the British royal family by Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince Michael of Kent, will represent the Swedish royal house. Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Maria Gabrielle of Savoy are also expected. The Duke of Braganca will come from Portugal. Duchess Carmen, daughter of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, has been invited as well. According to Dicheva, many influential figures from the business communities of the United States, France, Spain and Switzerland are also expected for the wedding, but their names had better not be mentioned for security and other reasons. The guests will also include two explorers, friends of the bridegroom Miguel de la Quadra Salcedo (a well-known explorer of the Andes and other parts of South America), and a Mount Everest summiteers. Jacqueline Beer Heyerdahl, widow of famous Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, as well as popular Spanish singer Rafael are also expected.

The Bulgarian guests will include Government ministers and persons connected to Kalina, some of whom she has met in Madrid. Artists Svetlin Roussev and Georgi Chapkunov are among them.

Attending will also be Kalina's brothers and their wives, Kitin's mother, his two brothers and his sister, and Simeon Saxe-Coburg's sister Princess Marie-Louise.

The gifts

Kitin's present to Kalina is a set of 13 Roman coins.

Spanish newspapers said this was a local custom. Wedding coins are decorated with Roman motifs and are presented in a special case. Glasses and dinner sets for the wedding are coming from Spain together with garden tents. Kalina will receive for her wedding an authentic dress designed in accordance with the traditions of the Rhodope area, a colourful fleecy rug, and antique copper bells. The gifts have been collected from Smolyan region, Southern Bulgaria, and will be delivered by executives of the Rubella cosmetics company.

The Rhodope dress has ethnological value. It has been selected with assistance from local experts, Rubella chief executive Krassimir Mitev said.

"We have prepared typical Bulgarian-style gifts and herbal cosmetics, symbolising traditional as well as new Bulgaria."