Yass sisters Chantal Fleming and Julie Armstrong have recently returned from the World International Royalty Pageant in Ireland, where they both came home with success.
50-year-old Chantal returned home from the overseas event with a host of achievements, including being crowned as the World International Royalty Classic Queen 2022, Charity Queen (raising over $10,000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Winner of Spokesmodel – with perfect scores, and eight other section wins including visibility, best in interview, and an achievement award.
Overall, a very successful campaign for Chantal just to put it lightly, following on from winning the Australia Pageant earlier in the year and qualifying for the International Pageant in Ireland.
55-year-old Julie also had outstanding success at the Pageant in Ireland, achieving the World International Royalty Mrs Runner Up 2022, Miss Congeniality, People’s Choice, and three other section wins including personality, best in interview and achievement award. During her campaign, Julie also supported the Soldier On and National Breast Cancer Foundation charities.
Chantal spoke to The Times about her and her sister Julie’s success in Ireland upon returning home.
“It’s classed as a Miss Style pageant. So rather than a beauty pageant, that is only judged on basically presentation, and so forth, this also has a strong interview and community services and fundraising element to it,” Chantal said.
“We still have the opportunity to get dressed up in our formal wear and there’s also a set judging element on the amount of community service and visibility that you’ve done, you can choose to support a charity if you’d like, which is what I did. Then there is the interview element as well.”
“I supported the National Breast Cancer Foundation and I reached a goal over $10,000.”
Chantal spoke about what got her into the field of Style Pageants.
“As a part-time job, I helped to run dance competitions throughout Australia. The lady that actually runs the business also runs different pageants. Earlier in the year when she asked me if I wanted to have a go, I said, yeah, sure. Why not?
“My mum had recently been diagnosed with Breast Cancer and I’ve continued fundraising for that. My win in Melbourne in March was very unexpected. But I did take on the challenge. Mum’s second diagnosis was this time last year in November, she’s still with us for now but sadly her condition is on the decline.
“In saying that, she’s still doing as well as possible we’re all with her. She’s a huge supporter of what we’re doing.”
“I have a saying called dreams don’t have deadlines. So, while it wasn’t necessarily a dream of mine, I’m a big advocate of experiencing as much as you can in life and just trying something different because you don’t know what you’re going to like and what you’re not going to like.
“I’m not a shy person and I do like to do community service and have done so for many moons. I thought it was something different. It was just about showing people if you want to do something different you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone but it’s a great experience.
“I’ve been in Yass since 1999. I did the tree change from metropolitan Sydney but I consider myself a Yass local now. Julie is here in Yass as well, she moved down to the South Coast, but since mum’s diagnosis we’ve all kind of rallied here so the three sisters are all here.”
Julie had been given an opportunity as a late entrant, as the entrant from Team Australia in the Mrs Division wasn’t able to make it to Ireland, who was going over to Ireland anyway to support Chantal and travel.
“Having been a last-minute entry, although doing my best, I never thought I would be crowned,” Julie said.
“Knowing I could not devote the time to the responsibilities and commitments of a title holder, I spoke with Pageant Director, Effy Murphy, and, with her blessing, passed the ‘Mrs Crown’ to the runner-up, Sintija.
“Having spoken with Sintija during the competition, I am confident that she will follow her dream of using the title to progress her sound plans for climate change action.
“I thank Team Australia and our Director and Coach, Kylie Drew, for their encouragement and sincerely thank the judges for their support of my decision.
“I will always remember the honour and significance they bestowed on me with the title, albeit for the shortest reign in Pageant history.”
Both Chantal and Julie won their respective divisions, a fantastic achievement.
“I won the classic division and Julie won the Mrs. Division. I also won the charity Queen, raising the most amount of money for my respective charity,” Chantal continued.
“Julie did really well, she got Miss Personality award, Miss Congeniality, and so forth. However, she has chosen to step down from her roles. Because we’ve got 12 months of commitments that go along with it. She’s decided not to considering mum’s condition.
“I’m looking forward to supporting community activities as much as possible. Julie’s already asked the people organising the Christmas parade, apparently, we are going to be a part of that.
“If there’s anyone, any groups clubs or whatnot that need assistance with volunteer work, fundraising in particular, I’m more than happy to do what I can.”
Well done to Chantal and Julie for your fantastic achievements and for putting Yass on the world map!
Tim Warren
