ROMANA DIDULO TIMELINE
1974 (November 5): Romana Didulo was born in the Philippines.
1984: Didulo’s father passed away.
1985: Didulo’s mother passed away.
1990 (July 25): Didulo moved to Vancouver, Canada to live with family.
2000 (June 19): Didulo was recognized for her cleanup efforts as part of her work with the West End Neighbours in Action.
2006: Didulo was featured in a magazine article as the president and CEO of Global Solutions Canada, a human resources corporation that focused on the labour shortage facing the energy sector.
2020: Didulo identified herself as the founder and leader of the “Canada 1st Party of Canada.” The main goal of the Party was to dissolve “All Natural Parties…and to eliminate “globalists and Communists.”
2021 (February): Didulo joined Telegram, an alternative social media platform popular among conservatives banned from more mainstream platforms, such as Facebook.
2021 (May): Didulo had amassed approximately 20,000 followers on Telegram. She referred to herself as “Sovereign Head of State” and “Commander-in-Chief of the Sovereign Republic of Canada.”
2021 (June): Didulo gave herself new titles including “Head of State” Commander-in-Chief,” “Head of Government of Canada,” and “Queen of Canada.”
2021 (June): Didulo added two new tag lines to her Telegram signature: the QAnon slogan “where we go one we go all” (#WWG1WGA) and “Peace and Prosperity. Or Perish.”
2021 (July): Didulo set up a GoFundMe donation page to build homes for wildfire victims in British Columbia. Website administrators quickly shut down her campaign.
2021 (August): Didulo’s Telegram numbers increased to 40,000 followers.
2021 (November 27): Didulo was detained by law enforcement for threats against healthcare workers. She was released the same afternoon with no formal charges filed.
2021 (December): Didulo reached her peak Telegram numbers of approximately 73,000 followers.
2021 (December 3): A Didulo follower was arrested for making threats against his daughter’s school.
2022 (January): Didulo and eleven of her closet followers (her inner circle) began touring Canada in recreational vehicles (RVs).
2022 (February 3): Didulo and her inner circle joined protestors at the Freedom Convoy at Parliament Hill. She and a group of followers burned the Canadian flag.
2022 (April): Didulo and her inner circle attempted to enter the United States three times. Each time they were denied entry.
2022 (May): Didulo followers started reporting that they had stopped paying their utility bills in response to Didulo’s “free natural resources” decree.
2022 (August 22). Didulo and her followers were involved in an attempt to arrest Peterborough police officers.
2022 (September): Didulo tried to fundraise from a paid Cameo video by Roger Stone, a Donald Trump political advisor.
2023 (February): Didulo’s follower count on Telegram dropped to approximately 50,000.
2023 (February): Didulo introduced “loyalty money” that had a “100,000’ denomination and was meant to replace traditional currency. It reportedly was “backed by gold and silver” and could be redeemed at the “National Treasury.”
2023 (September 19): Didulo and her closet followers were chased out of Kamsack, Saskatchewan after only a day. They left the town with the assistance of a police escort.
2023 (September 20): Didulo and her inner circle took up residency in an abandoned school in Richmound. Saskatchewan.
FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY
Very little information is available about Romana Didulo. [Image at right] What is known about her comes primarily from what she has chosen to reveal to the public. This minimal information is often not corroborated by evidence from other sources. The portrait of her early life is, therefore, largely hagiographic. Further, much of her presentation of her own life and the movement that she created and leads can best be understood through a conspiracy theory framework. Most simply, conspiracy theories can be understood as explanations for circumstances and events alleging that they are the product of secret plots created and carried out by a network of powerful, secret, organized malevolent groups (Uscinski and Parent 2014; Douglas et al 2019). In this case, Didulo has drawn on a variety of contemporary American conspiracy theories.
Didulo reports that her name is a combination of her father’s name Romualdo and her mother’s name Romana. On her website, Didulo states that she grew up in the Philippines. She reports that as a young child both of her parents died but there is no indication as to cause of death. However, losing her parents meant going to live elsewhere with relatives. When she was fifteen, she was sent to live with her grandparents in Vancouver, Canada. Didulo recounts that her grandmother taught her how to speak five languages. As an adult she lived in a small apartment with a roommate. She worked at menial jobs, and was once was homeless for an unspecified period of time (Sarteschi 2023).
Didulo became a visible public figure in October 2006 when a magazine profile featured her work. She was described as the president and CEO of Global Solution Canada, a private human resources company (Sarteschi 2023). The company recruited engineers for commercial oil, sand, gas, and mining companies. They assisted those seeking professional employment in Canada from around the world. No other information is available regarding her professional life beyond the two businesses, Infinite Wealth 24.7 and LTD and Romana Didulo Estate, INC. Both of those have since been dissolved.
In 2020, Didulo founded the “Canada 1st Party of Canada.” At that time, she named herself “Head of State” and “Commander-in-Chief of the Republic of Canada.” She claimed to have been appointed to this role by the “white hats and the US military along with global allied forces and their governments.” She claimed that these were the same people who had helped President Trump, had confiscated Vatican church assets, had confiscated the assets of the UK’s fake royal family, had been installed by central bankers, had confiscated the assets of the thirteen family bloodlines, had confiscated the fortunes of most (but not all) of Europe’s royal families, and that have removed around the world by criminal governments.
Part of her hagiographic presentation is that her family is descended from an ancient royal bloodline whose members contributed trillions of dollars towards aiding humanity. According to statements that she has made in live stream videos, she and her family emigrated from the Philippines (previously known as the “Kingdom of Maharlika”). In her version of events, the “Kingdom of Maharlika” was invaded by the “Spanish King” and colonized for 500 years, primarily motivated by its status as “the richest country in the world” and having the “majority of the world’s gold” (Sarteschi 2023).
Family wealth had several consequences. One was that many countries found themselves having to borrow money from the Philippines. Another was that she became the leader of Canada partly due to her family wealth.
In February 2021, Didulo began posting messages on the social media platform Telegram. It was on this platform that she adopted the titles of: “Queen of Canada,” the Commander-In-Chief, The President, and The National Indigenous Chief of the “Kingdom of Canada.” During this period, she began to acquire followers whom she dubbed “digital soldiers” or “I AMs.”
By the end of 2021, Didulo’s Telegram channel followers had grown to a high of approximately 73,000. Since then, however, her follower counts decreased to approximately 31,000 as of March 2024. Telegram remains the main platform through which she communicates with her followers. She has continued to post messages on the platform daily.
As of 2024, she and a group of her closest followers were living in an abandoned school in Richmound, Saskatchewan. [Image at right] It remains unclear how they spend their time, though those in the inner circle claim they are renovating parts of the school. Didulo is responsible for much of the security on the premises, which includes her surveilling the outside perimeter of the school. Didulo’s “press secretary” (Darlene Ondi) and others hold nightly the “Queen Romana Tell Real Vision” (QRTVN”) news program streamed via Telegram to an audience that averages approximately 150 viewers. The program has consisted of reading conspiratorial/alternative news, reiterating the importance of Didulo’s decrees, and updating viewers on the daily activities of Didulo and her inner circle. They group also requests funding support. The expectation has been that the group would stay at the school for at least several months. It has remained unclear if the group will resume driving across Canada in their RVs or remain stationed at the school. For unspecified reasons, they have been prepping to live “off the grid.”
DOCTRINES/BELIEFS
Didulo has not established formal doctrines; rather, she has issued decrees. Her decrees essentially serve as the “laws” of her “kingdom” and thus function as the foundational basis for her thought system. Didulo has issued over 200 decrees. All the decrees reside on her website, the functionality of the site notwithstanding. Further insights into her thought can be garnered from her live-streamed speeches and the nightly “news” presented by members of her inner circle. The themes in these messages are drawn from QAnon, conspirituality, New Age, sovereign citizen, anti-vaccination, anti-immigration, anti-LQBTQA, and anti-government.
Most broadly these messages express a deep disdain for “mainstream media,” government agencies, and other institutions. By contrast, Didulo expresses admirations for “strongmen,” including Vladmir Putin, Rodrigo Duterte and Donald Trump. Consistent with this authoritarian perspective, she commonly threatens those who do not adhere to her edicts and decrees with severe punishments. Her followers mirror that same attitude, regularly and openly fantasizing about publicly hanging public officials or anyone else they deem an enemy.
Didulo claims to possess supernatural abilities as an Acturian alien, including shapeshifting, self-healing, changing her eye color and the shape of her pupils, curing the blindness of others, appearing in the dreams of her followers, and emitting a glowing light as a symbol of her divine connection to the higher dimensional realms (Sarteschi 2023). During a livestream with members of her inner circle, she asserted that the recreational vehicle, in which they were currently living, [Image at right] had levitated. She maintains that she is in contact with the alliance of the “Intergalactic Federation of the World of Light Beings and Protectors,” alongside “star people” who watch over her from above. She reports that the adoption of her two “royal” puppies was precipitated by the dogs contacting her telepathically to request that she adopt them and that they are celestial beings. As an extraterrestrial being, Didulo requires a special diet. She claims that she cannot eat meat and can only eat fish. When she eats meat her “natural gifts and ancient wisdom” are “removed from my soul and person and I AM unable to move for 30 days or more.”
Given the ideological pool from which Didulo draws her ideas, it is not surprising that she frequently complains about immigrants and has created specific decrees that limit their ability to live inside her kingdom. She also has outlawed immigrants from owning property in her kingdom. Correspondingly, she has given her followers permission to “shoot to kill” health care works for giving the COVID vaccination (Bremmer 2021) and also immigrants if they are found to be engaged in certain types of criminal behavior (Smith 2023).
With respect to education, Didulo has created additional decrees in support of homeschooling. She supposedly has designated millions of dollars (“backed by gold and silver”) to people in her kingdom to “home educate” their children. Based on her assertion that there actually are only two genders, she opposes public schools that she insists indoctrinate and groom children to become transgender. Didulo and her followers regularly publicly denigrate transgender individuals.
RITUALS/PRACTICES
Movement rituals have evolved over time and consist primarily of public presentations by Didulo. In the beginning, Didulo operated alone and simply posted messages on a website and/or social media platforms, such as YouTube. In these videos, she articulated her worldviews, which to date remain largely unchanged.
After amassing a substantial base of followers, she began traveling across Canada in a RV. A small entourage traveled with her, most of whom have subsequently left the movement and have been replaced. At the height of her popularity, it was common for the entourage to travel to various locations and give in-person speeches. Locations often included Walmart parking lots and camp grounds. Location details were announced on Telegram, inviting those who lived nearby to attend. The speeches would be live-streamed on Telegram. Typically, no more than fifty people would be in attendance. The speeches typically lasted thirty minutes to an hour and were often repetitive. Afterwards, guests could meet the “Queen.”
Very little is known about the group’s day-to-day operations. Members of the inner circle often say they work “24 hours a day seven days a week” but have never articulated what type of work they are doing in the school. Each night several of them participate in the nightly news show, ending every episode with a request for funds from “those who are in abundance.” The group has claimed that it needed approximately $20,000 a month to cover its travel expenses. Though no financial records are available, it seems clear that breakdowns have been frequent and costly, and constant traveling has taken a toll on members. Former members have reported that at the movement’s peak it had amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars. The group was gifted an abandoned school in the small town of Richmound, Saskatchewan by a local resident. The townspeople reacted with anger and held protests but have not dislodged the group (Lamoureux 2023).
ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP
Didulo has been at the center of the organization throughout its history. It is telling, for example, that the organization itself has no name independent of Didulo. She makes a number of claims designed to legitimate her leadership exclusivity. These include constructing a hagiographic history for her leadership, issuing “decrees” that have the force of law within (and at least theoretically beyond) the movement, and creating specific missions that are integral to her position. The organization itself exists primarily online and is coordinated by a small group of loyal followers.
Didulo claims a spiritual contract with the “Galactic Federation,” an extra-terrestrial organization established to assist those on Earth. She states that her title was assigned from higher dimensional beings existing beyond our planet Earth. Didulo explains that she was “appointed” to her role by powerful people who she refers to as the “white hats.” The “white hats” are a QAnon-based phenomenon in which covert operatives, who are the “good guys,” assist in the fight against the black hats (the “bad guys”) or the cabal/deep state/globalists (Sarteschi 2023). Relatedly, the cabal is comprised of individuals operating covertly inside governments across the world, to cause harm to those in the world, particularly children who they are secretly sex-trafficked in underground tunnels (Amarasingam and Argentino 2020).
According to Didulo, she rose to power after removing the Chinese communist military, who were occupying tunnels underneath Canada, and were attempting to attack both Mexico in the United States (Sarteschi 2023). According to Didulo, these individuals were located in Beijing and were utilizing tunnels for adrenochrome production (a chemical compound 
produced by the oxidation of adrenaline that it is alleged global elites harvest from kidnapped children to ingest as an elixir of youth), organ harvesting, and the manufacture and sale of children for sex trafficking (Sarteschi 2023). She claimed that she single-handedly removed these individuals from Canada, and in so doing she prevented World War III. As a result of her great effort, she was bestowed the title of Queen. [Image at right]
This depiction of history, of course, places Didulo in the midst of intense conflict. She alleges that information about her is being censored by the cabal/deep state and the globalists who are being paid to destroy her. This campaign is driven by her formidable influence in the world, which is a personal threat to other world leaders. She has also claimed that individuals claiming to be national leaders, such as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, actually are actors or fabricated otherworldly entities, robots, or even computer-generated images, but they are not real.
According to Didulo, her decrees serve as laws in her “kingdom.” She has clear definitions of criminal behavior and punishment in the kingdom. Broadly, she prioritizes combating crimes against children, asserting that it is her responsibility to protect and rescue victims of child sex trafficking. She is also seeking to punish anyone who administers the COVID-19 vaccine to children. She has stated that for anyone who gives children vaccines the punishment shall be “two bullets to the head.” Crimes punishable by execution, consist of anything she has designated as a “crime against humanity.” These include anyone who “promotes transgenderism, medical surgeries, pharmaceutical means, hormone blockers, and gender inversion.” Other crimes that would garner the death penalty, in Didulo’s “kingdom,” include kidnapping, war crimes, genocide, famine, manufacturing adrenaline crumb, producing foods, drugs, products, or chemicals that are harmful to humans or animals, rape, torture blackmail, extortion, child sex trafficking, human organ harvesting, human trafficking, slavery, bribery, corruption, arson, trafficking illegal drugs and firearms, smuggling illegal firearms, trafficking weapons of mass destruction, and targeted killings. All “crimes against humanity” are punishable by public hanging or firing squad in the “city square” and can be witnessed by anyone twenty-four years of age or older (Sarteschi 2023).
Didulo has identified a series of missions for which she is responsible, responsibilities that have been largely ignored by established institutions who live in “ivory towers.” Most broadly, she has stated that it is her mission to bring back “morality” to Canada, along with “common sense.” She has claimed that unnamed individuals have offered her billions of dollars to dissolve her movement, yet she has declined their offer on moral grounds, feeling compelled by her divine duty to assist “we the people.” For example, she perceives it as her duty as Queen to travel to every town and city in Canada to get to know we the people and gain deeper insight into their needs. As an Acturian alien she is endowed with extraordinary abilities and responsibilities. One is including the facilitation and guarding of celestial magical pods (med beds) that can cure all ailments (Sarteschi 2022). She has made med beds available to all “Canadian nationals” and anyone with a veteran status. This responsibility has proved challenging because, she claims, pharmaceutical companies have deliberately stolen and hidden the med bed technology to maintain corporate profits. Didulo reports that she has provided billions of dollars in funding to cure homelessness, to cure addictions, to repair the infrastructure, to repair the roads, and to ensure that everyone has access to groceries. She promised to construct grocery stores in Canada available to all “Canadian nationals” and will name them ‘We Go One We Go All’ (WWG1WWA) (the QAnon meme), where her followers can acquire their groceries for free.
Didulo has also presumed to authority outside of the movement. In one of her decrees she abolished the requirement to pay government taxes (including utility bills and mortgages). She explained that Canada was a bankrupt “corporation,” an idea consistent with sovereign citizen ideology. She therefore regarded taxes as a form of “slavery” and as Queen, she was returning all of the natural resources to we the people. On the basis of these decrees, many of her followers prepared “cease-and-desist orders” (created by Didulo), along with copies of certain royal decrees. These were intended to inform various public and government officials, tax agencies, banks, and related entities about Didulo’s decrees. None of these tactics have proven effective, leading to negative financial and legal consequences for many of her followers.
In another move that would erode state power, Didulo created a movement-based currency called loyalty money. [Image at right] This money was printed by Didulo and distributed to select subjects. The printed money includes her emblem, and her flag and has a “100,000” denomination. While the money currently has no value outside of the group. Didulo has told her followers that they will eventually be able to cash it in at the “national treasury,” which has yet to be formed. Future planning, which is certain to spark additional conflict with state agencies includes the creation of passports, and “Canadian national” ID cards for members.
These various missions and decrees inevitably create tension between the movement and social control agencies if Didulo or her followers attempt to actually implement them. There are conflicts for followers also, of course, as they are caught between opposed imperatives as state citizens and movement adherents. Committed members commonly manage these tensions by stating that Didulo simply has not been “announced” yet, that the cabal pays the “mainstream media” to lie about her, or that politicians and public officials are taking credit for her work.
Didulo’s movement organization is actually rather small. Her closest confidants (those in her inner circle) include her “press secretary” who hosts the nightly news show. As such, the “press secretary” acts as the spokesperson for the group. Other members of the inner circle have designated responsibilities such as operating and repairing the RV, providing security, food preparation, doing laundry, managing waste disposal, attending to the “royal puppies,” and managing social media accounts.
Didulo has named approximately twenty members as “Ministers” of the “kingdom of Canada.” In their appointment ceremonies the Ministers were required to pledge their loyalty to the “kingdom” and take an oath to we the people. Each Minister is required to carry out decrees associated with their specified roles. She has also designated “coordinators” who are meant to replace duly elected public officials throughout the Canadian providences. Coordinators are volunteers who live throughout the country. Their role is to be the contact person for other followers who live close by and who have questions about decrees and policies in the kingdom of Canada. On occasion, the coordinators hand out loyalty money.
The primary point of contact for most Didulo followers is the Telegram platform. There are fifteen to twenty Telegram groups each of which has a designated administrator who monitors all postings. The administrators are tasked with removing any posts that “bring down the vibrational frequency” of the group. They frequently remind group members that they will remove or otherwise delete any post that “sows negativity or hatred.” In practice, this means that administrators remove any comment that negatively characterizes Didulo; offenders are often banned permanently. Followers who compliment Didulo are often rewarded by her reposting their messages on her main Telegram channel.
Within the many Telegram channels, followers chat amongst themselves. It is customary for them to post photographs of letters they have received from tax agencies, legal firms, utility companies, and other affected businesses. These letters threaten to terminate service for unpaid bills. Followers who have lost their homes will often post photographs or videos of themselves having to be escorted from their premises. Those who lose utilities will often post angry messages about what has happened to them. Some have even shared photographs of utility workers arriving at their homes to shut off their utility service.
Another prominent aspect of the Telegram platform involves followers posting photographs or videos of them sending copies of the decrees or a cease-and-desist order to one of the aforementioned companies or agencies. For instance, when a follower is facing eviction, they may send decrees and cease-and-desist orders via certified mail. Group members congratulate followers on “standing up” to the “cabal” or the “minions” who are decidedly ignoring Didulo’s edicts.
ISSUES/CHALLENGES
Through the history of the movement, Didulo has faced a number of challenges. The most important of these is loss of followers and operating funds as the viability of the movement is at issue. In addition, the conflicts with local residents, relentless negative media coverage, and vocal opposition from former members have kept the movement in a high level of tension with its surrounding environment.
While Didulo was initially successful in gaining Telegram followers, she recently has lost approximately 40,000 followers on Telegram. This erosion of the following has created two problems for the movement. First, the movement has fewer followers to engage in recruiting that might stem the current exodus. Second, the movement has less capacity to generate financial resources to pursue movement goals, particularly travel expenses that fund new members and resources.
A second major issue has been Didulo’s authoritarian leadership style. Reportedly, she demands extreme obedience and loyalty. Some who have left the group say they experienced “never-ending” abuse from Didulo (Lamoureux 2022). They regard her as dangerous and report that she threatened to kill them on many occasions. Some admittedly still fear for their safety despite having separated from the group.
The coterie of hostile former members has led to negative media coverage of the group (Lamoureux 2022). In addition, the secretive nature of the group and the constant media coverage has made the group unwelcome. In 2023, for example, Didulo and her closet followers were chased out of Kamsack, Saskatchewan after only a day. They left the town with the assistance of a police escort. The group’s subsequent settlement in Richmound, Saskatchewan was met with an equally hostile response.
Finally, Didulo’s decrees have sometimes created serious problems for individuals following her directives. Some former members report that they stopped making payments to utilities, local governments, and banks, with predictable legal and financial consequences. In one case some followers unsuccessfully attempted to arrest the Peterborough police in August 2022 (Lamoureux 2022).
Romana Didulo’s movement appears to be precariously balanced at this time. It is small with a declining following and located in a small, remote Canadian community. Didulo is an authoritarian leader with few successes to show and no apparent successor. Internal problems combined with negative media coverage, local resident pushback, and resistance to her decrees by a variety of financial and governmental institutions have left the movement’s future prospects opaque at best.
IMAGES
Image #1: Romana Didulo.
Image #2: The abandoned school in Richmound, Saskatchewan.
Image #3: One of the RVs that followers used to travel across Canada.
Image #4: Romana Didulo as Queen of Canada.
Image #5: Alternative currency created by Didulo.
REFERENCES
Amarasingam, Amarnath and Marc-André Argentino. 2020. “The QAnon conspiracy theory: a security threat in the making?” CTC Sentinel 13:37-41. Accessed from https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-qanon-conspiracy-theory-a-security-threat-in-the-making/on 2 April 2024.
Brenner, Jade. 2032. December 3. “Canada’s QAnon ‘queen’ claims she was arrested over ‘shoot to kill’ healthcare workers posts.” Independent, December 3. Accessed from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/qanon-canada-queen-arrested-b1968818.html on 2 April 2024.
Lamoureux, Mack. 2021.. “Follower of QAnon influencer who claims to be Canada’s queen arrested over school threats.” Vice News, December 3. Accessed from https://www.vice.com/en/article/3abbg9/follower-of-qanon-influencer-who-claims-to-be-canadas-queen-arrested-over-school-threats on 2 April 2024.
Lamoureux, Mack. 2021. “QAnon’s Queen of Canada is raising serious cash on GoFundMe.” Vice World News, July 28. Accessed from https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3dxy7/qanons-queen-of-canada-is-raising-serious-cash-on-gofunde on 2 April 2024.
Sarteschi, Christine. 2022. “How the self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Canada’ is causing true harm to her subjects.” The Conversation, June 28. Accessed from https://theconversation.com/how-the-self-proclaimed-queen-of-canada-is-causing-true-harm-to-her-subjects-185125 on 2 April 2024.
Sarteschi, Christine. 2023. “The social phenomenon of Romana Didulo: ‘Queen of Canada’.” International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation, 6. Accessed from https://www.ijcam.org/articles/the-social-phenomenon-of-romana-didulo on 2 April 2024.
Smith, Peter. 2023. “QAnon “Queen” of Canada Romana Didulo tells followers to shoot ‘illegal’ migrants on sight.” The Canadian Anti-Hate Network, February 8. Accessed from https://www.antihate.ca/queen_of_canada_romana_didulo_shoot_illegal_migrants on 2 April 2024.
Uscinski, Joseph and Joseph Parent. American Conspiracy Theories. New York: Oxford University Press.
Publication Date:
10 April 2024
