Spain identifies drifter who claimed to be princess

A mysterious drifter who turned up in Norway claiming to be a princess with the mission of bringing peace to the world has been identified as a Spanish woman who went missing from the Valencia region two years ago.

The mayor of the town of Alcudia, Francesc Signes, said on Saturday he recognised her as a local resident, even though she had dyed her brown hair blond, when he saw a segment on the woman on a Spanish news programme on Friday night.

He said the woman is Mari Carmen Arocas, a 45-year-old mother of two who used to work in a high school in Alcudia.

The woman was arrested in Norway in June for riding on a train without purchasing a ticket and having no identity papers. She has been in custody since then while Norwegian authorities tried to identify her, distributing photos via Interpol.

Arocas has been calling herself Princess Anastasia Jerusalem of Palestine and saying her mission in life was to bring peace to the world, the mayor said.

Signes said her elderly parents and children are overjoyed to know where she is but also worried, “given her mental state.”

Residents of Alcudia say she began to act erratically a few years ago when her marriage fell apart and her estranged husband took custody of their two children, now aged 9 and 16, the newspaper El Mundo reported.

Signes said he would contact the Spanish Foreign Ministry Monday to bring proceedings to have Arocas repatriated, hopefully in time for Christmas.