VARIOUS

BIOGRAPHIES

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Andrejs Berķis (born 13 November 1974 in Louise Charlotte. The surname should be pronounced /'bɛrcis/, but as the cedilla is often omitted in writing, the surname is often mistakenly pronounced /'bɛrkis/) is a member of the Progress and Development Party and the minister of foreign affairs of New Courland from 2013 to 2019.

Satyavant Bhandare (Sir Satyavant Bhandare as of 2014, born on 28 October 1956 in Louise Charlotte) was the sixth Governor General of New Courland. He took office on 1 June 2013, succeeding sir Ewen Gray, and stepped down on 1 July 2024.

Mr Bhandare was Mayor of Louise Charlotte from 2001 to 2005, after which he left active politics to become the host of the television talk show It's Friday And You Know It!, which has been running since 2006. For years, Mr Bhandare has been actively involved in the improvement of life standards of the less fortunate citizens of New Courland.

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Herbert Dalrymple (born 29 February 1972 in Louise Charlotte) is the eleventh and current Prime Minister of New Courland, having taken office on 21 March 2023.

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Linda Gascoyne-Macleod (born 23 May 1963 as Linda Macleod in Kettler's Port) was between 17 June 2005 and 14 December 2006 the eight Prime Minister of New Courland, making her the first woman Prime Minister of New Courland. She also was the first prime minister who was born after the independence of New Courland. She is a member of the Conservative Party and has been leading that party since 2005. Despite the fact that the Conservative Party lost all elections since 2006, Mrs Gascoyne remains a very popular figure in New Curonian politics, which is probably the reason that she wasn't replaced for a long time. After the party's loss in the 2015 general election, Gascoyne stepped down however on her own accord.

Having studied economics in Jamaica and the United Kingdom, Mrs Gascoyne became budget minister in the first cabinet of Ivar Hoare (1998 - 2002) and economic affairs in the second (2002 - 2005). In 2005 she was elected to replace Mr Hoare as party leader and Prime Minister.

She married Gerald Gascoyne in 1989. They have two daughters, Mary and Susan.

Sir Ewen Gray (born Ewen Joseph Gray on 1 June 1948 in Vicar's Lane) was the fifth Governor General of New Courland. He was appointed on 27 September 2002, succeeding Sir Jonas Petrulis, and stepped down on 1 June 2013.

After having studied Law at the University of the West Indies, he assumed a career as a solicitor, first in Yeovil and subsequently in Louise Charlotte. In 1998 he was appointed Deputy Governor General under Jonas Petrulis. He was knighted in April 2004.

Ewen Gray is married to Louisa Duvalier. They don't have children.

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Ivar James Hoare (born 11 December 1947 in Port Carolina) was the seventh prime minister of New Courland from 1998 to 2005 as well as the seventh Deputy Governor General from 1997 to 1998. He also served as minister of domestic affairs from 1989 to 1996. He is a member of the Conservative Party, serving as party leader from 1998 to 2005 (when he served as Deputy Governor General, his party membership was frozen). During his second tenure as Prime Minister, he fell out of grace with the party leadership, after which he was replaced as party leader and Prime Minister by the much younger Linda Gascoyne-Macleod.

Ivar Hoare left active politics and enjoys his retirement in his villa in Green Hill.

Hilario Holguín (born 26 November 1965 in Santa Monica, Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Dolor, is a politician and diplomat from New Courland. He is a member of the Progress and Development Party and was his country's twelfth minister of foreign affairs from 11 June 2019 to 21 March 2023. As diplomat, Holguín was attached to embassies and consulates of New Courland such as those in Miami (USA), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Ottawa (Canada).

Holguín is currently married to his fourth wife. He doesn't have children with her, nor with his previous wives. His hobbies include chess, sailing, and bird watching.

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Luis Antonio Lavalleja Juárez (born 16 June 1953 in Pointe-à-Pierre, Trinidad) was the ninth Prime Minister of New Courland. He is a politician for the Progress and Development Party and was its leader from 2003 to 2015. His charisma lead the PDP to be able to defeat the Conservative Party in the 2006 elections, ending an era of almost twenty years of Conservative rule. Lavalleja lead three cabinets.

Although originally from the island of Trinidad, his parents moved to Carolina in 1956, adopting the New Curonian nationality upon the independence of New Courland in 1962. Lavalleja is married to Joanna Hesketh. They have three children.

Jorge Liñan Narvarte (born 17 September 1965 in Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Dolor), is the seventh and current Governor General of New Courland. He took office on 8 July 2024. Before he became Governor General, he had been the Mayor of Nuestra Señora since 2015. Mr Liñan is married to his wife Adele; they have three adult sons.

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Natālija Mauriņa (also known as Natalia Maurina, born 27 April 1970 in Zelta Kalni, New Courland), is a diplomat and former actress. From 2009 to 2015 she served as the country's ambassador to the kingdom of Kronenburg; on 11 May 2015 she was appointed ambassador to FICT, a position that she held until 1 November 2020. During this time she served as the organisation's Secretary General from 21 September 2019 to 21 March 2020. Currently she serves as New Courland's ambassador to Harrawi.

Although her main education involved politics and diplomacy, she became famous as an actress during her studies, when she portrayed Liza Bengara in the long running New Curonian soap opera Tropical Times in the early '90.

Laila Miró-Rozenberga (born as Laila Rozenberga 14 December 1978 in Round Bay) is an oceanographist and politician from New Courland who served as the country's tenth Prime Minister from 19 June 2015 to 21 March 2023 and the second woman to hold the office. She succeeded Luis Lavalleja as leader of the Progress and Development Party on 14 June 2015, when it was decided within the party that Lavalleja had to step aside; in the 7 June 2015 elections, the party lost for the second time in a row, despite winning the elections for the fourth time. Although it is common knowledge that Miró is a compromise candidate (Lavalleja and his main rival Thomas Seneviratne, the Mayor of Yeovil, didn't get enough support to win the leadership contest), her government turned out to be efficient and effective.

After having finished her studies, Miró worked at the Louise Charlotte Marina for some years. In December 2007, she was elected as a member of the Diet in which she worked in the foreign affairs and planning committees. In the 2013 cabinet reshuffle she succeeded Alfred Daudze as planning minister, in which capacity she ended negotiations about an extension of the New Courland railway line from Louise Charlotte to Yeovil, calling it 'an utter and complete waste of public money'.

Miró is married to Alan Miró, a lawyer in Yeovil. They have two children and five cats. Laila Miró enjoys diving, running and reading.

Oliver B. Murtogg (born 16 May 1952 in Yeovil, New Courland) is a retired diplomat and politician. In 2012, he was the transitional Secretary General of the Exumbran Convention. Before that, he was the New Courland High Commissioner in London, UK. He served as ambassador and high commissioner to a number of other countries, including Jamaica and Chimor, apart from serving briefly as minister of foreign affairs. He is a member of the Progress and Development Party (Yeovil).

Rather wealthy due to fortunate investments, Oliver Murtogg owns a mansion near Port George that is often criticised by locals, who consider it a modernist monstrosity. He is also co-owner of a local bus company. Little is known about his private life; apparently Murtogg is unmarried, but he is regularly seen in the company of a young Latin-American man who is rumoured to have been adopted by Murtogg as his son.

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Roburts Rasnačs (also known as Roburt Rasnach, born 7 November 1956 in Zelta Kalni, New Courland) is a diplomat and former ambassador of New Courland to, among others, Argentina and the United States of America. He also worked for the OAS. He was the Permanent Representative of New Courland to the Exumbran Convention from 2012 to 2016. An idealist, he supported New Courland's affiliation with the rest of the Caribbean, and in the '80s he was about to present a plan to start talks about a second attempt to form a West Indies Federation, but political opposition thwarted him before the plan reached the Diet. Often mentioned as possible minister of foreign affairs, he never sought a position in government, but is regularly asked to use his diplomatic skills in minor regional issues. Rasnačs is not a member of any political party.

Rasnačs was married for almost thirty years to New Courland tennis player Lydia Booth (*1957), until their divorce in 2009. He remarried in early 2011 to businesswoman Pascale Bourgarel. Rasnačs is father to one daughter with Lydia Booth, Irene.

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Thomas Slade (Thomas Archibald Slade, born 29 November 1940 in Kettler's Port, New Courland; from 1 May 2004, Sir Thomas Slade), is a former minister of foreign affairs of New Courland. Being in office continuously from 1989 to 2006, he is the longest serving foreign affairs minister. He is a member of the Conservative Party.

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Sandra Thurstan-Greenvald (born 15 June 1958 in Jauna Piltene; last name also written as Grinvald or Grinvalda) is a New Courland politician of the Progress and Development Party and as such the country's minister of domestic affairs from 2013 to 2019 and foreign affairs from 2008 to 2013.

She succeeded Oliver Murtogg on 6 February 2008 as minister of foreign affairs and was responsible, among other things, for New Courlands possible accession to the Exumbran Convention, the founding of which took place in August 2012. In December 2013 the government was slightly changed and Thurstan became minister of domestic affairs.

Sandra Thurstan-Greenvald is married to Alfred Thurstan, a teacher at the Altitude Elementary School. They have one daughter, Matilda. The family lives in Altitude.