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I might have to buy myself a Mary of Burgundy biography.
Silence on the other end of the line. He repeated himself. Still, silence. "Sir, can you read me alright?" he said. Then, quietly —
"Are you really Santa Claus?"
Apparently, a Sears catalog had misprinted the number for a Santa hotline, and accidentally put the top-secret number for CONAD headquarters. The Colonel went with it, and from there, the NORAD Santa Tracker has evolved.
New York Press described him as a "Baron of the Holy Roman Empire by command of the Supreme Pontiff, editor, novelist, swordsman, and adventurer, who... was born in San Francisco, CA." According to the paper, when Harden-Hickey's ship landed upon the uninhabited Trinidad, he "went ashore, explored the island and claimed it in his own name." Just like that!
He announced that the Principality would be a military dictatorship, bought ships for colonists, and even had a secretary of state for foreign affairs.
Unfortunately for James I, "In July 1895, the British government... landed troops and took possession of Trinidad as a cable station.
Because of her lands and title, Mary was one of the most eligible bachelorettes in Europe; everybody wanted her hand. King Louis XI (who really, really wanted to take everything she had and make it part of France) even expressed that it was his "dearest wish" to see her married to his son the Dauphin, who was six years old. No thanks!
Mary co-ruled with Maximilian, and loved riding and hunting; she was most often depicted on a horse, with one of her beloved falcons. According to Olga Karaskova, this made sure her image was that of a "skilled horsewoman and passionate huntress," "she alone among the duchesses of Burgundy." The woman had a vision. (See page 207, or Mary's Wikipedia page, if you want to read more about that. I apologize for the source being in French, it's hard to find sources on her!)
In one amazing anecdote, she once stopped Maximilian from going to battle with France by telling him to first come home to say goodbye, locking him inside his own apartments, and refusing to let him out until he agreed that he would "instead of going to the front, to go dancing." (See page 140 of the source for that one.)
Tragically, Mary died at age 25 after sustaining injuries from falling off her horse. Maximilian went on to be quite an influential Holy Roman emperor, and we can only speculate at what could have been had she lived! Mourn with me 541 years later, dear readers, for a very cool lady who died very young.