Queen Autumn of Fanaglia

Autumn (Autumn Maria Faye Ziegler; born 22 October, 1848) was queen of the Kingdom of Fanaglia from 8 November, 1874,  until her death. Autumn was the ninth and last monarch of the Ziegler Dynasty, as well as the second monarch of the United Kingdom of Fanaglia. The daughter of DiMarco, she turned on her tyrannical father; she led a violent military coup against him in which she secured the crown for her own. She then had him executed on 24 November, 1874.

Autumn was considered by many to be young and brash, often speaking her mind without first thinking it through. She set out to rule by good counsel, and she depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers led by Miss Lucy Alans, whom she also regarded as her closest friend (and, some say, her lover). Queen Autumn once said of Miss Alans, "She does a lovely job of preventing my mouth from getting me into trouble." One of her first moves as queen was the complete overhaul of the country's education and healthcare systems.

It was expected that Autumn would marry and produce an heir so as to continue the Ziegler line. She never did, however, and expressed little public interest in serious romantic relationships. As she grew older, Autumn became a celebrated symbol to strong and independent women around the world.

In government, Autumn was far more progressive than her father had been. Her actions went over enormously well with the working and the growing middle class citizens of Fanaglia, as well as the nation's "new money." The already well-established aristocracy, however, received her generally less warmly. Her uncle, Wilhelm Ziegler, the Duke of Arvirar even went so far as to claim he had a more legitimate claim to the throne than she because of her sex and the way in which she ascended to power, a sentiment also held by his successor after his death, Reiner Ziegler. It was not until after her death, outraged by the declaration in her will to bequeath the crown to her protégée and stepdaughter, Alice Dufresne, that Reiner became a real and physical threat to Autumn's legacy.