His Holy,
Imperial Majesty,
Claudio the First, by the Grace of God and the Acclamation of the
People,
Sacred Emperor of Reunion, Grand Duke of Straussia, Founaise,
Conservatoria and Le Port,
King of Mauritius, Açores and Mariana,
Protector of Izabella and Porto Claro,
Count of Amapá, Eternal Defender of the Faith,
Head of the Imperial House of de Castro-Bourbon.
Introduction
Head of State of the Holy Empire of Reunion, Emperor Claudio I is
the first monarch of the Imperial House of Castro-Bourbon to
occupy Reunian (or Réunian) throne. Actually, His Imperial Majesty is
the first one wearing the Imperial Crown of the Empire. Former
viceroy of Reunion at the time of Paisean domination, Claudio I
fought for our independence from tyranny and evil. After
months of negotiations with the Government of O País!, His
Imperial Majesty declared the independence of the Holy
Empire on August 28th, 1997; soon, Reunion received ex cathedra recognitions
from many micronations. Months later, and funny enough, O País! became inactive,
and was annexed to the Holy Empire. During his rule, Reunion has
grown from a "small" micronation to an influent, active
micronation; It has annexed and incorporated many micronations throughout its history, and been
portrayed many times by macronational news sources in 28
countries, such as newspapers and TV Networks. (check the Micronations on the Media Homepage to see scanned images of the newspaper and magazine articles, just click each file and read.)
The Reunian Monarchy; an efficient system of government
His Majesty rules the Empire by acclamation of the Reunian
people, actually representing God in Reunian territory. Reunion is a
Constitutional Monarchy (under the rule of our Magna Carta, the Sacred
Constitution of 1997 - the Sagrada), a controlled
democracy. His Majesty is assisted by the Distinguished Imperial
Council (the High Chamber of our Legislative Branch) and by
the Lord
Protector (His Chief of Staff) on His decisions having the permanent advice of an Imperial Confidente; the
Council works as a Senate does in a Federative Republic, but
their decisions have a character of "suggestion",
which may be overruled by the Emperor. However, the
Emperor has not vetoed a decision of the Council for the last 7
months. Reunion is a Roman Catholic micronation, and has its own simulation of Catholic Church, ran by a few priests who are citizens of Réunion.
The Country is governed, however, by the Premier and the People's Assembly of
Qualicates, in a system of checks and balances. The Premier
is elected by the P.A.Q. every three months, and the Assembly is
elected by the people every six months. Unless the Emperor feels
that there is a need to interfere on what they are doing, they
have full control of the Reunian State.
Emperor Claudio represents the "Moderative Branch",
which allows Him to interfere in decisions from the Legislative,
the Executive and the Judiciary. Also, the "Imperial
Decrees" and the "Glorious Ordinances" are a
resource often used to make things faster; if an I.D. is used,
there is no need to consult with the Council, which turns the
Reunian System of Government into one of the fastest and
more efficient in the world.
Imperial Protocol; Symbols
Some rules must be observed when dealing to His Majesty.
He must be addressed as "Your Holy, Imperial Majesty",
and referred to as "His Holy, Imperial Majesty".
Whenever His Majesty is present in a building, the Imperial
Banner (that vertical version of the reunian flag) must be
shown outside of it. When the Emperor enters or exits a
public building, the Imperial March (this music you are listening
right now - but the classic version - if you have a sound card),
composed by Johann Pachelbel, must be played.
His Majesty always refers to Himself as "We", act by
which He reaffirms to be the representative of the Lord in the
Holy Empire. All the pronouns, when related to Him, are to be
capitalized. Another symbol of His magnificence is the Holy
Imperial Crown, which is only used in very special occasions.
A work-day of His Holy, Imperial Majesty
The first thing His Majesty does in the morning is to
read many micronational newspapers (from the Orange Peel to O Cometa, passing through Folha de Porto Claro and Chá com Montenero) and the Reunian News Agency bulletin. The RNA also prepares a compilation
of what many micronational press agencies and newspapers have
said on the previous day, to keep Him informed of what is going
on in the micronational world. After that, the Emperor
starts to read His personal e-mails (about 170 or 175 every day),
official e-mails (about 20 every morning) and takes a look at the
micronational newsgroups and forums, such as Micronations.EU,Listofmicronations.COM and our very own Reunian Open Micronational Forum.
Right after having breakfast, His Majesty answers about 40% of
his e-mails, and redirects the others to the Imperial Press
Consultantship and to the Imperial Confidente, who will respond each and everyone of those
messages. Most of the days, His Majesty enters chat-rooms (through
MSN or AOL) with one ore more sovereigns from other micronations, and also is usually present at Reunion's chat-room on MSN.
The afternoons are reserved to Ceremonies, preparation of
Imperial Decrees and other official duties. It is on the
afternoons that Emperor Claudio has meetings with the Premier,
Flávio Miranda; together, they decide the future of the nation.
Every night, the Emperor has a meeting with the Imperial
Chancellor (Viscount Wallace Rangel, who is also His Majesty's
personal secretary) and another one with the Imperial Confidente, Duke Bruno Queiroz. Then
His Majesty usually talks to His Honor, Chief Judge Luiz Octavio Azambuja, Marquis Olympio Neto and to Mr. Erik Fitzgerald (Head of
the ICW3, government office responsible for the Reunian
websites), about technical aspects such as the websites of the
Holy Empire and how to set up, for instance, a WWW BOARD for the
Holy Empire.
Before going to bed, the Emperor examines the list sent by the
Ministry of Tourism and Immigration with the new citizens who
have been accepted into the Holy Empire, and offers His assent.
Life in Family
His Majesty lives in the Imperial Palace of Saint-Denis,
localized in the Royal District. His office is located in
the Palace, and the nation is ruled from there. The Emperor
is macronationally married (September 18th, 2004) to Empress Roberta - Her
Imperial Majesty, the Empress Consort, daughter of an Italian
merchant and a Brazilian bussinesswoman. Other people who
live in the Palace are the Imperial Dog - "Bingo" - and
many servants (amongst them the hilarious Zilda, the efficient
butler Roberto and the maid Tânia)..
Other members of the Family are Their
Majesties, Queen Mother Lourdes and Imperial Patriarch
Sergio, who live in the Xanadu Palace, in Saint-Benoit, capital
of Straussia.
The Emperor has a very active family life, being together with
many of His relatives many times a week.
Life in the Macronational World
A lawyer, graduated at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Emperor Claudio I - or Cláudio André
R. de Castro - was born in the fifth of May of 1979. His wife Roberta - the Empress - went to
the same university he did; they met there on a beautiful morning of 1997, at the Catholic University they both attended. They married on 2004, and both are lawyers, and members of the Rio de Janeiro Bar Association, in Brazil. A soccer
maniac (his team is the America
Football Clube of Rio de Janeiro), he
is a member of the Brazilian Democratic Party
(DEM), the most conservative party in Brazil. He went to school
at Colégio São Marcelo (Saint
Marcelo High School, now closed) and lives, since 2004, by the Copacabana Beach, in a 1928-built apartment-building at Avenida Atlântica. In 1996, he went to Massachusetts
(USA) as an interchange student, and stayed there for 6 months -
in Amesbury. In June of that year, he got his high school diploma
from the Amesbury High School. He
works at Sérgio Castro Imóveis, a leading "carioca"
Real Estate company that belongs to his family. He is specialized on commercial and industrial properties, and is an enthusiast of the recovery of the seaport (docks) zone in Rio de Janeiro.
His favorite movies - he loves to go to movie theaters - are
"Arsenic and Old Lace" and "The Madness of King
George". While in High School, he nurtured a profound
hatred towards mathematics and calculus, but was the best student
in History, Geography and Portuguese classes. If you ever want to
make him happy, offer him some chocolate-chips ice cream. The
Emperor is a big fan of Alice Cooper, Celine Dion
and Enrique Iglesias. Annoy him by listening to
"Samba", offering him free membership in a Communist
party or pouring onions in his food. Cláudio drives a black mercedes with many Réunian flags (people wonder what those are...), and is a careful driver (although he was
involved in a couple of little car crashes).
e-mail the Emperor
HHIM's MSN ID is
imperador@reuniao.org
HHIM's ICQ UIN is
6434185
HHIM'S AIM SCREEN
NAME is EClaudeI
Emperor's Facebook Profile
THIS WAS LAST
UPDATED ON FEBRUARY 21st, 2009
