Duchess*

You may be wondering.

Well, it’s real.

Way back in the shadows of the Middle Ages, an ancient ancestor walked (or should I say LIMPED) away from a big medieval battlefield having done enough service to his liege lord to merit the reward of a dukedom.

(The limping is important, incidentally. It earned his descendants the surname that is translatable as ‘son of the gimp’ – and that was my maiden name.)

The Dukedom, of course, no longer exists and the family fractured in the years of the Ottoman Empire’s rule, some converting under pressure, other proudly not – either way, the family line is traced directly… to me. That which my ancestors ruled as Dukes over is long gone – but as their descendant, a Duchess I really AM, I have a coat of arms and EVERYTHING, and I’m just attaching the title to “Fantasy” as opposed to a titular dukedom long vanished into the mists of history.

Alma Alexander, Duchess of Fantasy, at your service.