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Journal Entry 14
30. Juni 2020 Today’s press conference by the prime minister in which he announced the death of the man who tried to assassinate the king was chilling. The explanation Prime Minister Northcott provided for the prisoner’s “suicide” seemed a bit contrived. At least to me, his demeanor appeared to harden the more questions that were asked by the press. As with most of the prime minister’s press conferences, I stood at the rear of the press hall as a representative of King Jonas. What sent chills through my bones was that every time the prime minister said the word “suicide,” he looked directly at me. I know that his eye…
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Journal Entry 13
29. Juni 2020 Around 04:00 this morning, I met Jonas inside the large car park at the palace. The king and I got into one of his most prized possessions, a Jaguar, and drove south to the royal yacht at the marina in Feldkirch. Against my better judgment, we left without Jonas’s security detail in tow. However, once we boarded the ship, I was pleasantly relieved to find Damien Fernsby, the head of the king’s security detail, standing at attention when we entered the cockpit. As always, Jonas was one step ahead of me. I should have realized that the king would have security in place. The North Sea was…
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Journal Entry 12
27. Juni 2020 The past week has been rather busy for the palace. King Jonas made his first in-person appearance since isolating due to the epidemic. Queen Claudia ventured out into the public as well; however, her highness remained very distant from most people except for Princess Emily and their security detail. On Tuesday, Jonas visited the abandoned hotel that was the location of the attempted assassination upon his life in early February. Thankfully, the king has made a full recovery. The assassin remains locked up in our country’s highest-security prison, and he still refuses to divulge his identity or his motive. Facial recognition searches by Dorstenland Bundesnachrichtendienst (DBND), INTERPOL,…
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Journal Entry 11
21. Juni 2020 Years from now, when I pick up this journal for reference, I want to remember how old my children and the king’s children were during this unpredictable year of 2020. Otto (16) and Emma (13) King Jonas’s children: Princess Emily (16), Prince Boris (14), Princess Sophie (12) and Princess Tatiana (12) It is hard to believe at this time next year, all of our children will be teenagers. It seems like it was only yesterday that it was the king and me who were the teenagers. Times are different now. The world seems more complicated, more demanding than it had 25 years ago. I suppose our parents…
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Journal Entry Ten
19. Juni 2020 There has not been much to journal about over the past couple of months. The virus that has affected the world is still ruling our daily lives. The daily protests in Ludwigplatz, Eberbach’s City Centre, have let up for the most part. Although with our stressed economy, I fear there will be a resurgence of protesters in the not-so-distant future. Prime Minister Northcott and his party, the NCD (Neu Christlich Demokratische Partei Dorstenlands), continue to make headlines throughout the country. Northcott appears to have taken a nationalistic approach to our economy as Dorstenland attempts to reopen from the COVID-19 closures. The way he pushes for the reopening…
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Journal Entry Nine
9. April 2020 It has been over three weeks since we have been in isolation at the palace. My fear of COVID-19 is finally starting to subside. The initial terror that I felt seems to fade by the day. Health experts here in Europe and the United States continue to report many of the virus-related deaths had underlying health conditions. Thankfully, I remain very healthy at 41 years of age. King Jonas and I have been working non-stop from our offices in the castle. I find myself working more hours now than I had before the virus struck. I am not sure why that is; perhaps it is because I…
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Journal Entry Eight
17. März 2020 It is closing in on midnight, and the torrential rains have not let up since they began earlier this morning. The severity of the storm, accompanied by the pandemic, has caused one of the lowest voter turn-outs that Dorstenland has seen in decades. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Northcott’s party, the NCD (Neu Christlich Demokratische Partei Dorstenlands), took 58% of the vote. The results cemented Northcott’s reign as prime minister for another three years. Today’s storm was a double-edged sword. The disturbance helped to subdue the possibility of violence at the voting centres, but it did hand Northcott another victory. For all one knows, Northcott’s party would have been…
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Journal Entry Seven
16. März 2020 I am writing tonight’s journal entry in the library of the palace. My family and I were moved into the north wing of the castle by Jonas. The king did this out of concern for our safety due to the political unrest in Eberbach. The protests in Eberbach turned violent over the weekend. Ludwigplatz is almost filled now with demonstrators. The protestor’s demands for the postponement of tomorrow’s elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic increasingly concerns Jonas. Two of the protest leaders pleaded this morning on national TV, to have King Jonas intervene. When Jonas saw the news footage of the middle-aged man and woman pleading for…
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Journal Entry Six
13. März 2020 Prime Minister Northcott announced this afternoon an almost complete shutdown of Dorstenland starting next Wednesday, 18. March. All schools and universities are to be closed on Monday; however, the elections will go on as scheduled on Tuesday. Northcott’s administration stated that all election poll centers would require a 1.5-meter separation between voters. This evening, protesters continued to gather in Eberbach’s city centre, Ludwigplatz. Instead of demanding the resignation of Northcott, they are now insisting on the postponement of Tuesday’s elections. The protesters already view Northcott’s conservative party, the NCD (Neu Christlich Demokratische Partei Dorstenlands), with rigging the upcoming election. After putting my children to bed tonight, Karina…
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Journal Entry Five
12. März 2020 I cannot even express what the last 48 hours have been like. It is almost midnight, and I am still trying to grasp the changes that are happening virtually by the minute. Yesterday, the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 is a global pandemic. Italy announced tonight that the virus had killed 1016 people, a 23% increase from yesterday’s numbers. This evening, President Trump announced the suspension of all travel from Europe to the U.S. I do not know how that will affect our embassy staff in Washington D.C., or our consulates in Chicago and Seattle. I have not had the opportunity to speak with Prime Minister…
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