Peer's Quarterly Interview of Differel

Peer's Quarterly 20 Questions
with Sir Differel Van Helsing

portrait by Lon Ryden; July 2011


[Editor's Note: This online version is formatted differently from the printed article, in that it contains additional material from the interview that was not included in the magazine.]

SIR DIFFEREL ISOLDE CHURCHILL PENDRAGON VAN HELSING, 16th Baronetess of Denver and Viscountess Dunwich, is Director of the Caerleon Order of the Companions of St. George, the agency charged with protecting the Sovereign, Church, and People of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations from paranormal threats. She is the direct descendent of Sir Abraham Van Helsing, GCVO, the conqueror of Dracula, and King Arthur Pendragon, and has inherited both the Master Vampire and the greatsword Caliburn, better known as Excalibur. Born in 1976, she lost her mother, Gwendolyn Isolde Pendragon Lady Van Helsing, within a week after her birth, and her father, Sir Henry Arthur Richard Van Helsing, when she turned 12. She married The Rt. Hon. Victor Edward Plunkett, 26th Viscount Dunwich, in 2001, and they had a son, Henry Abraham Vlad Helsing-Plunkett, before Lord Dunwich was killed in 2004. Despite these hardships, Sir Differel has acquired numerous honours, including a Life Peerage as Baroness Denver, the George Cross, and being made a Lady Companion of the Garter.

She agreed to sit with us for 20 QUESTIONS, and beforehand gave us a tour of her ancestral manor, where we meet her most important associates: Aelfraed Walters, her butler and Chief of Staff; Mrs. Helena Widget, her housekeeper; Madam Phillipa Trumbo, her executive chef; Magdalene King, Manager; WO Giles Holt, Master-at-Arms; Sharona Turing, Chief Analyst; Dr. Thaddeus Carmichael, Chief Surgeon; and her best friends, Eile Chica and Sonne Hiver, known as Team Girl; as well as her son and her quasi-slave, Vlad Ţepeş Drăkulya, popularly known as Count Dracula. The vampire insisted upon joining us, and we decided to reserve the 21st question for him.

Read the rest of the article.