Many a little girl dreams of one day becoming a real life princess. And who can blame them. The frocks. The diamonds. The Kate Middleton-y hair. It pretty much seems like the perfect job, no?
But if you think purchasing an (eye-watering-ly!) expensive Elsa-dress from the Disney store is cutting it in terms of turning your little darling into royalty, you have another thing coming.
Because this American father just took the princess pursuit to a whole new level.
To fulfill a promise to his seven-year-old daughter that she could be a princess, Jeremiah Heaton from Virginia flew to Africa and laid claim on an unclaimed bit of land between Egypt and Sudan, declaring it his “Kingdom”. The doting father came across Bir Tawil, one of the last unclaimed pieces of land on the planet, after searching for how he could fulfill his promise to Emily.
After reaching the remote desert region in June (after a 14 hour journey in a caravan through the desert!), the father-of-three planted a flag his children had designed, and made the first steps towards claiming the land. After returning home, Mr Heaton and his wife made a crown for their daughter and asked friends and family to refer to her as Princess Emily. Yep, that’s right. The little princess’ new kingdom covers about 800 square miles of desert that have never been claimed by Sudan or Egypt.
According to Mr. Heaton his Kingdom is “beautiful, with Bedouins roaming the area and the population is actually zero.”
Meanwhile, Princess Emily, who sleeps in a custom-made castle bed back in Virginia, is showing signs of being a generous ruler, and says that she wants to ensure children in the region of her new Kingdom have enough food.
“That’s a real concern in that part of the world. We have discussed what we could do as a nation to help,” Mr Heaton said.
Wow, some people just go that extra mile, don’t they?
