Is Michelle Gowan the queen of Zaire?

Answer 1

Yes, indeed, the teacher Michelle Gowan (not to be confused with a commoner by the same name) has a fascinating heritage! She was adopted at birth from the royal family because her father who was a missionary, saved the life of the King. Royal protocol at that time required the King to give his first born child to the person who saved his life.

Before the birth of the princess, her American adoptive mother and father were missionaries to Zaire. Early one morning when he was climbing a mountain to meditate, he heard the cries of someone in distress. He ran over to the edge of the cliff and found a man holding on by only his fingertips. He gallantly helped the guy back up on stable ground.

The guy said, "Do you have any idea who I am?"

Her father responded, "I just figure you are a guy who needed some help and I am glad that I was here for you."

"Well I am not just anybody. I am the King of Zaire. Royal protocol requires that I give you my first born child, but the Queen and I have no children yet."

"That is not a problem. My wife and I already have five children at home and we do not need another child," her father respectfully replied, hoping that he did not offend the King.

A year later, her parents received a telegram that they should go to the Atlanta airport to receive a gift from the King and Queen of Zaire. Her mother thought it might be some fabulous jewelry or beautiful fur. When they saw the Royal aircraft land, the carpet roll out, and trumpeters began heralding the arrival, they knew it was going to be really good. A lady stepped off the plane with a beautiful little bundle wrapped in a pink blanket. Her mother took one look and the baby princess and because she was too polite to give back a gift that wonderful, thanked the nurse who delivered the princess and took her back home to Macon.

All the way home on the ride from Atlanta, her mom and dad discussed whether they should raise this baby as a princess or a regular little girl. They wanted her to fit right in with the rest of the regular kids in the family. Sadly, they decided to go with REGULAR. As she grew, she was required to do things that a princess would NEVER have to do like HOMEWORK, or PICKING UP HER OWN TOYS, or (this is the most tragic) WASHING DISHES. She always felt like she was different from the rest of those kids but she just didn't have any proof. She often felt like she must have been mixed up a the hospital, but all her sisters just laughed at that notion because they knew that she did not come from a hospital at all, but an airport.

When she turned sixteen, she got a telegram that said, "THE KING AND QUEEN OF ZAIRE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT THEY NEVER HAD ANOTHER CHILD OF THEIR OWN AND PRINCESS MICHELLE WILL EVENTUALLY INHERIT THIS ENTIRE KINGDOM. THE ENTIRE KINGDOM AWAITS YOUR VISIT!"

Well! Princess Michelle was ready to pack her bags and leave the same day but her parents had the nerve to tell her that she could not go until she graduated from high school. So for the next year, she wrote letters to the palace and informed them of all of her favorite things so they could prepare for her visit. The day she graduated from high school, she summoned a royal aircraft to take her to her palace. When that plane landed on the royal runway, she could see the entire kingdom was shouting and cheering and welcoming her home finally. Be assured that when she finally got home, she was treated like a REAL princess.

She had the most wonderful suite with a balcony window that overlooked the royal lawn. Royal subjects were always standing out on the lawn wanting to catch a glimpse of the princess. She would get dressed in her beautiful gowns and walk out on the balcony and wave. People would throw flowers in the air and cheer and sing. "THAT is how a princess ought to be treated," she thought to herself, remembering all of the painfully ordinary experiences she had growing up REGULAR.

When she wanted a turkey sandwich on whole wheat, she just asked, and a servant curtsied or bowed and said, "my pleasure your highness!" When she wanted to take a bath, the servant said, "bubbles or rose petals, your Highness?" And if she wanted strawberry mint mango ice cream and they didn't have any, some servant would be instantly dispatched to go get it. She quite simply had everything she could possibly ever want and never ever had to do anything for herself or anyone else.

One royal custom in that kingdom was that the parents arrange the marriages of their children. At the age of three, the parents have a promising ceremony where two sets of parents promise in front of a large assembly of people that their children will marry when they grow all the way up. Princess Michelle had been promised to a nice royal prince from a neighboring kingdom. Soon after she arrived at home in the palace, her prince was introduced to her and began to court her. He was nice enough but she had this crazy notion that she was going to go out on dates and fall in love and choose someone for herself they way they do it back in America. She was unnerved when she learned that her options were limited to 1. this guy or 2. nobody. Goodness gracious he tried to make her fall in love with him. He gave her massive jewels, a yacht, a new crystal carriage with eight horses and four footmen, and a dragon pup for the moat at her castle. She was just not feeling a connection to him (but she did like his gifts and kept them).

As the time approached for the royal wedding, she began to be afraid. She did not like it when the seamstresses came to the castle repeatedly for wedding gown fittings. She did not want to choose flowers or music or food or anything. She did not like it that they were already selling china and tea towels and souvenirs with her portrait on it. The whole entire kingdom was planning a wedding and she was afraid.

She she gets stressed, she likes to bake. She went to the royal kitchen but the cooks wouldn't let her step foot in there. They were busy baking wedding cakes. She said, "I am good at baking cakes and cookies and I want to make something now."

"No way, your highness. You tell us what kind of cookies you want and we will make them at once!" They just did not get it. She WANTED to DO the baking. They would not hear of it. On top of everything else, she was homesick.

She went to her suite and she called home. Her mom was really glad to hear from her. She wanted to know all the details about the castle and the servants and the kingdom. Princess Michelle began to cry and tell her mom that she was going to have to get married to a guy that she did not yet love. Her mother asked her what she wanted to do. Princess Michelle said, "I want to go to college. I want to be a teacher!" So her mother said, "Just tell the King and Queen. They will surely honor your wishes!"

Princess Michelle had never thought of that! She ran down the hall to the Grand Royal Suite and told the King and Queen that she wanted to go back to America to go to college and become a teacher. The King and Queen said, "very well, then, this wedding can wait!" With that they summoned the entire royal staff and told them to put everything on hold, "The princess is going to college!"

As she left for college, the whole kingdom threw rose petals into the air and waved until the royal aircraft was completely out of sight. She went to college and as most American girls do, fell in love with a commoner. She had to get married while in America because if she dared to go back home, she would have to marry the prince to whom she had been promised. She married David, had one half-blood prince named Chase and one half-blood princess named Caroline. She began to teach school and only goes back to her palace for visits.

Princess Michelle became a Queen when her parents suddenly and tragically died while jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. That was their idea of fun but somebody sabotaged their parachutes causing them not to open. She returned to the kingdom and had an election since she was so happy teaching school that she had no intention of going back to her kingdom no matter how much money or how many servants or how many princes wanted to marry her.

Since she had no plans to live in that palace, she finally turned it into an orphanage for kids whose parents had died due to a strange strand of malaria. They still have all of the servants but all those kids have to pick up their own toys, put dirty laundry in the hamper and clean laundry in the drawers and .....HOMEWORK.