Man Claims Egyptian and Sudanese Land as his “kingdom” so His Daughter can Be A Princess

This guy is taking “Daddy’s little
princess” a bit too literally.
Jeremiah Heaton, a father of three
from from Abingdon, Virginia, has
claimed a patch of land between Egypt
and Sudan as his “kingdom” so that his
7-year-old daughter, Emily, can be a
real princess, the Associated Press
reports.
Several months ago, Heaton was playing
with Emily and she asked him if she
would ever be a real princess. He
informed her she would.
“At the time I had no idea how I would
honor her wish but I knew that I had to
find a way,” Heaton wrote in a Facebook
post.
He started researching how he could
accomplish this, and his investigation
led him to Bir Tawil, an 800 square-mile
area that, due to land disputes, is not
claimed by either Egypt or Sudan.
According to the AP, the mountainous
region is one of the last unclaimed
pieces of land on earth.
Heaton trekked through the desert in
June and planted the “Heaton kingdom”
flag — designed by his kids — in the soil
of Bir Tawil. When he got home, he
requested that everyone address his 7-
year-old daughter as “Princess Emily.”
He and his wife, Kelly, also got her a
princess crown.
“It’s cool,” Princess Emily told the
Bristol Herald-Courier.
Shelia Carapico, political science and
international studies professor at the
University of Richmond, told the Bristol
Herald-Courier that likely both Egypt
and Sudan will have to recognize
Heaton’s stake as legitimate before he
has any legal claim over the land.
Heaton says he is pursuing “formal
recognition” from African countries and
is “confident” his claim will be taken
seriously. Egyptian and Sudanese
embassy representatives did not return
requests for comment from the
Washington Post.