Kalistani Major History

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Profile of an Empress
Princess Consort Pavlina Ananto-Hulanevek Speaks with La Moda
Eveari, Grand Duchy of Ananto
May 7, 5555


Her Highness Princess Consort Pavlina Ananto-Hulanevek

Since marrying His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Fredrick II Ananto, Her Highness, the Princess Consort Pavlina Ananto-Hulanevek has been the target of a lot of hatred. She has several times received credible death threats to both her and the Minor Princess Carolina Hulanevek, as well as been an object of protest across the Mainland. Most of the supposedly pro-democratic protests have also included a large measure of anger at the Emperor's decision to marry a foreigner, but not just any foreigner: This one in particular. A member of an Artanian political dynasty, Princess Consort Pavlina Ananto-Hulanevek have come to embody Kalistan's general distaste for Artanians and protestors have demonstrated their will to commit violence over the choice.

Her Highness says she is "determined" to not be defeated by Protestors. She sat down with La Moda over coffee to talk about how her rocky two and a half years in Kalistan has affected her.

(La Moda reporter) A(rin) L(awson): Your Highness, it is my pleasure to finally get the chance to speak with you.

(Her Highness, the Princess Consort) P(avlina) A(nanto-Hulanevek): Thank you. I am pleased to finally have the chance to speak with you and to speak with your readers. Please forgive my Vrassan, if I don't do it correctly. Luthorian is my third language, but you have, very colorful idioms her in Kalistan. So if I should get them wrong, it is my apology.

AL: We will quote you honestly and charitably, Your Highness.

PA: Excellent. Shall we start?

AL: Yes, Your Highness. How have you settled in to Kalistan? Do you enjoy it?

PA: I have not seen, well, since I have been married, I have not seen Kalistan. The people there may wish for me to visit some times, but I think it may be too, I want to say dangerous, but I do not think that is the correct word. Maybe more like incendiary, or irritating, to the wrong people if I go now. Some people there really have made it clear that they do not want me here.

AL: I am sure that's not everyone, Your Highness. You are the wife of our Emperor, and there are many millions in this country who absolutely adore you and would love to see you, even in Kalistan.

PA: You are right, I am certain. However, you may think it is possible to perhaps, take break and enjoy vacation, but then I read in the paper that the Duchess of Odufaray was slain while she was attempting to make peace. That does not bode well for me, or my daughter to visit right now. Ananto is safe, and we feel comfortable here, but it is like prison in some ways. A beautiful one certainly, but I have not left Ananto since I was married. They do not think it is too safe for me.

AL: That is sad, Your Highness. Have you had the opportunity to travel outside of the country?

PA: It is our intention, my husband and I to return to Kundrati to visit my family for a while. We wish to bring my daughter there. She is forgetting what her home there was like. She speaks Vrassan far better than me now, and she is forgetting her Lurrian. It is a shame, and I speak to her in our native tongue of course, but her friends all speak with her in Vrassan, and as mother, how can one compete, you know? It is an experience I never thought I would have and I feel that I should encourage her to fit in here as best as possible, because this is her home now. But I do not want her to ever forget her home in Kundrati too, where she came from, and where she will always be welcomed.

AL: Now Your Highness, the Princess Carolina, she is your adopted daughter, is this correct?

PA: Yes, this is correct.

AL: Would you tell the story for our readers about how you two found one another?

PA: Of course. It is touching story. I was never married, I think perhaps I worked too hard. I had a lot of oh, business and I was always in and out of court as representative for Etxea Bank in Kundrati. But I never had any time for men. But My daughter, Carolina, her mama died when Carolina was born. It was complicated birth, and the doctors saved the baby, but could not save her mother. And her father never wanted to even have a child, he was alcoholic and was believed to have beaten Carolina's mother, which was the cause of the complications. When my daughter was born, her father was nowhere to be found, so she was taken by the State and lived with foster parents, one of whom was a very close friend of mine. I visited once, saw the baby and thought Oh Katerina, I had no idea you had had child. Has it been this long, you know? That kind of thing. And she said, no I am just foster mother, this little one needed a home until maybe we can track down relatives, but she has been here for three months, and no luck with the relatives or the father. So I would babysit for Carolina while my friend would go out, and when I first picked her up, she was having some kind of colic or something, but she stopped crying and looked at me with her pretty green eyes, and smiled at me. And my heart melted. When it came time for Katerina to return her, I immediately requested to adopt Carolina, and she has been my heart and happiness since then. She is very loved.

AL: It sounds like you two have a very special bond.

PA: Yes, like Nature. She goes where I go, she sometimes follows me around. We like spending time together. So in a way it is a good thing I can't go to Kalistan right now. Eveari and Kaliburg are such nice places, and Carolina is safe here.

AL: Do you still practice law?

PA: I still read law, and I teach now in Kaliburg. It would not be fair... (the Princess Consort laughed) Think of me in court arguing, being Emperor's wife. Nobody would ever get a fair trial in that situation. I am, as my husband says, too powerful now to represent crooks in finance industry. 'We have too many criminals running lose now for you to win every case you argue and get more out of jail,' he says.

AL: Indeed. Do you like teaching?

PA: I do. I can make arguments without having to worry about win or lose. And I learn as much as I teach. Laws are not so different from Kundrati to Kalistan. But you have a very strange relationship between Government and various industry sectors. So it is a challenge sometimes to remember in Kundrati, money is freer than it is here, and I have to watch out for what I teach so I don't teach about Kundrati.

AL: Do you enjoy your life as Princess Consort?

PA: Well, what my husband says is true: it is like living in a gilded cage. On Estate here, we are free to do as we please. But you see, when we go out into public, there is so much protocol to follow. Nobody is allowed to speak directly to him, so people speak to me for him. They are afraid of him I think, or maybe intimidated? No this is not the right word. I think in awe maybe is correct. I have feeling that if he asked a person to jump in front of car, they would and be honored to do so. So if we go out, they put us in like secret room where we dine alone. It we wish to go to concert, we have box seats just for us, when we might like to do dancing. Many do not know this, but Fredrick, my husband, is very good dancer. He is very romantic, and is lot of fun too. He enjoys loud music, and he also like to work on car. He is mechanic, was mechanic first before Emperor. You know this?

AL: No, I didn't know he was a mechanic.

PA: Yes, he showed me pictures of his time in National Service, where he was mechanic. His mama was engineer. This family is very intelligent, and I feel sometimes that intelligence is wasted here in this office. There is so much that they can do, but don't get to. I worry that I won't be able to do many things I wish to do, because of who I married. So, there are good parts and bad parts. I want public life, maybe someday my husband can change things so Emperor can have public life instead of people bowing as he walks by. But Kalistani so stuck in their ways, something tells me I will bend first.

AL: You make it sound very lonely.

PA: It is impossible to be lonely when you have thousand servants taking care of everything around you all the time. (Her Highness Smiles) No, I joke. It is not lonely at all. We have many friends here who visit Wilson House or here at Estate. We are always entertaining guests. And we have whole movie theater in house here. But Eveari is special. Here, people so used to seeing Emperor walking around: the Anantos have made this place their home for centuries. People don't lose their minds over Emperor being on same city block as them as they do in Kaliburg or other places. Here, people pay us the courtesy law demands, but that's it. They respect us and have only ever treated me as one of them. I appreciate that. Here we can go to movie theater, or see opera, or go to dinner where we can be among the people, and nobody bows or loses mind. Emperor is normal person here. And this town has really taken a liking to me and Carolina, and I am very greatful.

AL: When you are out and about, what sort of activities do you do?

PA: I like playing golf. We watch football on Sundays, and I think I understand the rules well enough to have good conversation with my husband about football. I ride horses here on the Grounds. Somedays, Carolina and I go into town and go to paint: We have a very nice spot by Bay where we paint landscapes. There on the wall, that is one of Carolina's works. (The Princess Consort points to a beautiful impressionistic landscape of a shoreline with the setting sun behind coastal hills.)

AL: Of yes, that is very pretty. How old is your Daughter?

PA: She is almost 9 now. See, she is already great painter. Follow in mama's footsteps, yes?

AL: Indeed. What else do you do?

PA: We also like concert. I think last time we saw Amethyst Lemon when they came to Eveari. That show was very loud.

AL: Did you enjoy the music?

PA: Oh, haha. I should say yes, they are going to represent Kalistan at FOMAT. So, while it was very loud, maybe unnecessarily loud, I liked them and hope they win contest.

AL: If you could select any music at all to listen to live, what kind would it be?

PA: I did spend time in club when I was younger, much younger than today. So I like club music, dance music, you know. I like to dance, and you need song that you can truely feel in soul, you know?

AL: Have you been to an RF Club?

PA: Oh, haha no. I have heard of them. But I think maybe I am too shy for that. I have heard about those club, yes... But, no, I have not. I will probably not.

AL: What have you heard about the RF club?

PA: Well I believe there are some clubs where public sex is accepted.

AL: There are a few of those yes. But I think most of the RF clubs have cleaned that up. There is lots of drinking and drugs, for sure, but I think most of the sex stuff is in the past.

PA: Not that I oppose it, understand. It is just perhaps too embarrassing for me. My husband would also never go to one: he is more into rock and roll. But maybe someday we can go to club and dance. Maybe if we go incognito.

AL: Have you had the chance to visit an ODEN store since you have been here?

PA: Of course.

AL: And how did you like it?

PA: Haha, Miss, I am pretty experienced in drug. The Kalistani product is maybe a bit stronger than Kundrati, but same effects. You have ninety different varieties of marijuana here. It may be almost too many choice. I feel pity for the person who is stoned and come in store to have to buy more.

AL I should finish up here, I think I have taken more time than your secretary told me I had.

PA: No worries, I will push my next meeting until later. I like talk to you. This is fun. You treat me like human being. You and my husband and daughter only. My next thing can wait.

AL: Ok, well, do you have any big plans for your upcoming year? Now that you are the Princess Consort, what good things do you hope to accomplish in your role?

PA: My only actual job is to produce heir for Emperor. We try, but I am older than Emperor by two years. Biology will resolve that one way or other. But in terms of thing to do out of bed, once we get back from Kundrati, I have made start on book about Kalistani institutions. It helps me to do research on this topic, so I understand them better myself. I am also starting to attend Brethernist meeting with Husband and Daughter. It is nice community, and they do not require that I believe in God or Yeshua. But silence is excellent time to do thnking and sometimes there is communal meal. It is different life, for sure. I also want to learn Go. Kalistan is major Go center in Terra, and masters who will teach me to play live here. My husband is also a wonderful Go player, and he and people from Eveari Go club play game in silence, so nobody has to deal with protocol. Its neat, but he has wonderful time playing game, and I would like to learn so I can perhaps beat him at it one day. (Princess Consort chuckles)

AL: I will end the interview right here, Your Highness. Thank you for speaking with me. You really put a lot of context to your life and given us all a lot more to think about. I wish you well on your visit to Kundrati, and I hope someday you can come to Kalistan proper: We have so many amazing places and things to see.

PA: I am sure we will travel there someday. Just not today. Probably not tomorrow either.

AL: I understand. Thank you Your Highness.

PA: Thank you for talking with me. It was very enjoyable conversation

I found the Princess Consort to be very intelligent, very kind and caring, especially about the Emperor and the Minor Princess Carolina, and very eager to learn more about Kalistan and our country's customs. "Perhaps fitting in more will calm down protestors," she said, in an optimistic tone. I told her I hoped so. At one point, before the interview began, she said "At first I thought I should just return to home in Kundrati. But the more I think about My husband, the more I am glad I did not flee." Princess Consort Pavlina has fully embraced the role of Princess Consort, and while she is humble and soft spoken, making a great sympatico for the Emperor, she also does have an imperious streak in her. "Emperor talks about how people are just confused. But I think if someone kills someone in the steps of a major hotel, at what point is the Emperor going to act decisively to end terrorists? I ask him: Why concern yourself with what these people think. This is not democracy--We have seen here where people "vote"--with bullet. We had to call the police for that nightmare. Emperor can answer the terrorist anyway he likes. If it were me, nobody in Kalistan Proper would be confused with regard to law or consequences of breaking law. A quick march of the police through town would end the protests."