Amelya of Middelan
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Amelya of Middelan, born Lady Amelya Rose van Aert (25 Sun's Smile 1931), was the first child and daughter of Captain-General Johanes I of the League of Veletz, and the third Queen of Aaun under the Alstion restoration by way of her marriage to John I, King of Aaun. Her marriage to John I in 1953[1] was the cause of much dispute, in part because it was officiated soon after the outbreak of the Aevos Coalition War. Complicating it further was her mother's claim to being Mariya Karenina, disowned first daughter of Georg I of Haense.
Biography
Childhood
The firstborn child and daughter of Johanes I and Klara Miray[2], Amelya's birth was the start of her life's many controversies. Born with congenital blindness in one eye, Klara admitted soon thereafter to being Mariya Karenina Barbanov, the first daughter of King Georg I - long thought dead by the Haeseni court. Such bore little upon her tutelage, though, for it was in the Lodenlander traditions of the van Aerts, warriors and woodsmen, that the girl was trained. It was so martial and conservative a youth that it was once rumored Amelya attempted to begin a crusade on Norland. Despite that - or perhaps causing it - was her uncles doting on her as the sole female van Aert of her generation.
At the age of twelve, due in part to growing tensions along the southern and western borders of the League, Amelya was sent by her mother to be a ward of Adela of High Peak, where instead of the base wool sweaters and flared pantaloons of Veletz, the young lady was fitted in Aaunish jewels and dresses. While she was often recalled to Veletz due to political disagreements between the two polities, she became the closest confidante of Edmund II, King of Aaun, such that she was made his Mistress of the Robes.
Adulthood
His assassination in 1952[3] caused a chain reaction that rippled throughout humanity. First, her friendship with the late king placed her upon the emergency council that find and crown John of Aaun - and also first on the list of candidates to be his queen. Perhaps hoping to avoid Aaun being drawn into the quickly escalating Aevos Coalition War, and having found John agreeable, they were engaged within a month. The 18-year age discrepancy of the new couple scandalized the nobility of Veletz, yet the match was still begrudgingly accepted in the political calculus of the time. Whilst the marriage would occur a short year later, it would not stop Aaun from joining the war that would eventually destroy the League; the newly-minted Queen-consort of Aaun was said to be haunted by that moment the rest of her days, and where once there was a brazen girl would stand a somber woman.
Though her homeland fell apart, her marriage was known to be solid - the two were known for their piety, donating large swathes of land to the church and providing alms to the commonfolk, sponsoring villages to dot the countryside. They had seven children together, whereupon they agreed to stop on the holy number matching the Seven Skies.
Titles, Styles and Honors
- 1931 - 1953: Her Ladyship, Amelya Rose van Aert
- 1953 - 1965: Her Royal Majesty, Amelya of Middelan, Queen-consort of Aaun, Princess-consort of Alstion, Duchess of Balemena and Corazon, Countess of Whitespire, Enswerp and Florentine, and Baroness of Blanchet
- 1965 - present: Her Apostolic Majesty, Amelya of Middelan, Apostolic Queen-consort of Aaun, Princess-consort of Alstion, Duchess and Consort of Vienne, the Lowlands, Balemena and Corazon, and likewise Consort and Lady of all the other lands and lordships of the Throne of Paradisus
Issue
| Name | Birth | Death | Marriage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Reman | 1954 | Living | Unwed | Firstborn child and son of John and Amelya. |
| Josephine Florentia | 1955 | Living | Unwed | Secondborn child and firstborn daughter of John and Amelya. |
| John Valentinus | 1956 | Living | Unwed | Thirdborn child and secondborn son of John and Amelya. |
| James Marcel | 1957 | Living | Unwed | Fourthborn child and thirdborn son of John and Amelya. |
| Robert Tiberius | 1958 | Living | Unwed | Fifthborn child and fourthborn son of John and Amelya. |
| Alexander Caius | 1960 | Living | Unwed | Sixthborn child and fifthborn son of John and Amelya. |
| Calliope Analiese | 1963 | Living | Unwed | Seventhborn child and secondborn daughter of John and Amelya. |
