Eugenia is no longer Diana, but she is seen as a princess

“What does it matter to me being Diana, since now they look at me like a princess ?!”.

Although she does not live in royal luxury, but in one of the most desolate areas of the “Stolipinovo” district of Plovdiv, Evgenia is satisfied with her fate. 23 years ago, she made headlines about her after taking her name from the late Princess Diana. She took her name because Prince Charles, during his visit to Plovdiv in 1998, was at the wedding of her father Valcho and her mother Zhivka.

Diana, about a year old, with her parents Valcho and Zhivka around the time her family exchanged letters with Buckingham Palace in 2000

With that, however, the bond between the royal family and the local Roma family almost ended. Wolf sent a letter and a photo of the baby to Buckingham and asked for help in raising little Diana. From there in 2000 an answer came with a thank you and a polite refusal, that they help the poor all over the world, but only through foundations.

Next month, Evgenia is expecting her third child

As soon as the hopes of a new Charles apartment or at least an amount turned out to be in vain, Valcho made a general decision: he renamed Diana Evgenia, was offended that she welcomed the prince to her wedding and did not receive any gifts from he, also symbolic.

Eugenia’s emerald eyes, which the entire neighborhood used to regard almost as those of the late Princess Diana, are now more cognac with blue-green flecks. She still lives in Stolipinovo, but not in her parents’ shared flat on the eighth floor without running water in block 4006. The house now it is a few streets ahead, in via Slavia, where she is daughter-in-law.

From the U-turn of the last stop, Batak Street runs between the market and the abandoned panels, between the scattered trash and the stalls of improvised vegetables printed on the sidewalk. It is not yet 9 o’clock, but three wagons have already taken up position in the illegal parking lot below. On one side they nimbly line up shiny peppers in crates, on the other they take out the clothes on hangers and hang them in front of the pavilions. Hey, now the “beat” on the sidewalk will be full. The neighborhood takes on a life of its own.

“Slavia” street turns left from this alley, opposite the municipal market and the fence of the “Pencho Slaveykov” educational institution.

Only the city map states that it is a street

Apparently there is no asphalt, but clods of earth. Passing a row of tin garages, you arrive exactly where the poor paradise of the failed princess of “Stolipinovo” is located. However, she is not there: she left early to take her daughter Kalinka in the jeep. The little girl is just like her when she was a child, she turns one, has teeth and has a fever. Evgenia also has a 5-year-old son, Mustafa, and next month she will become a mother for the third time. Her second daughter will be called Hira, the Muslim name chosen by her father.

Evgenia doesn’t remember ever being Diana. She told her how she started her life and how they later changed her name, but this story seems very foreign and incomprehensible to her.

He is not at all excited by royalty. She wasn’t tempted to look at their life and dream about it.

What was your childhood like?

Poor, Evgenia answers in one word. Her father Valcho drove a taxi, her mother Zhivka worked “at the keys”. They were having a hard time. And even more difficult when Evgenia’s brother appeared.

Today the boy is 17 years old. Valcho drives a taxi again, Zhivka works in a bakery.

At the time they enrolled their daughter at the nearby “Dimcho Debelyanov” primary school. Bulgarian is spoken in her family and it was not difficult for her with her language. She also listened a lot in literature classes.

You will not be in a hurry to settle down, Evgenia thought of her teacher, Mrs. Atanasova. He listened to her, but only for a while. She finished eighth grade and, as often happens in her Roma community, at that age Vasil her, who was 3 years older than her, took her in marriage.

“How could I not be a princess, I was!” smiles at the memory of Evgenia. They had a proper wedding – one day with a pink dress with tulle, the next – with a white one. And after these upheavals, the days of family life flowed by.

Until that moment in their father’s house they were trembling for Evgenia, no let her do the housework. The mother-in-law accepted me as her daughter and she taught me everything, the young woman is grateful to her.

And Katya is pleased with her daughter-in-law – she takes care of the children and her husband, manages the house.

“We live in peace, there are no bad things. No fights, no drunkenness. They respect me very much,” Evgenia shares her happiness. She also works hard and honors the family in which she has settled.

Several families are in the mother-in-law’s apartment. There are 4 rooms – one for each family. In one there is Evgenia with Vasil and her children, in her other brother, in her third her parents.

It is not cramped for me – during the day they are all at work, I am with the children, describes Evgenia’s daily life. Mustafa pisses her off because all the games are dragging him. Last year, he enrolled him in a preparatory group at the “Pencho Slaveykov” secondary school. And she will walk, she must learn, not only on the streets, her mother orders.

Across the block is the family garage converted into a grocery store. The mother-in-law sells there, bounces and helps Evgenia. “They look at me like a princess, I don’t miss anything, I don’t think about anything.

They shop, I cook “

says Eugenia. In the evening she meets her husband, who works in the trade. Everyone gathers at the table and Evgenia does not want happiness greater than hers.

Well, maybe just a little – someday they’ll have their own house, with a separate room for the kids.

The block where the failed princess of “Stolipinovo” lives.

However, here it becomes difficult, Evgenia has learned from experience. “Everyone works at home, my husband works honestly, but there is no money. 700 BGN for the next …”, reasoned the young woman. Some time ago Vasil went to Denmark to earn money to support his family, but he decided not to leave them alone. He is very protective of his wife, his family praises him.

After the new year, think about going abroad. This time he will be with his mother-in-law. If they manage to settle down, Evgenia can leave with the children. “I wish them well, to choose their own path, to be happy, healthy”, the former princess of “Stolipinovo” calls her modest hopes.

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