Like all the truly anointed, Lisa Hanna had been obedient to fate’s unerring, if irresistible command. Hardly more than a girl, she had taken on the world and conquered it. She was Miss World 1993, standing in a place coveted across time by legions of the planet’s most beautiful girls. The question going forward now was what does she do with all this glory?

Two weeks after being crowned and being feted as the darling of the international paparazzi, she returned home to a Jamaica mad with pride and ‘Lisamania’. Prime Minister P J Patterson sent his personal envoy, Burchell Whiteman, to welcome her at the airport, followed by a motorcade. The entire thing was “overwhelming and moving”.

But unknown to the cheering throngs, dark clouds were rapidly gathering. When Hanna greeted her father, Rene Hanna on the tarmac, she knew something was wrong the moment she saw him. She dearly loved her father and had been close to him. He said he was fine, perhaps not wanting to ruin her moment. But as she moved on to acknowledge the adulation of the crowd, Mr Hanna suffered a massive aneurism which tore his aorta.

“I remember preparing to get an air ambulance for my dad the night of my arrival, after the Jamaican doctors advised that the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami was better equipped to deal with this emergency,” Hanna relives the moment.

Fretting heavily for her dad, she went to Montego Bay the following morning for that leg of the Miss World homecoming celebrations, which was a repeat of Kingston. Then she hopped onto a plane the next day to see her dad, who was then out of surgery but strung up in bed. She spent some days with him before seeing him off to Kansas City for recuperation.

Back home, Jamaica was in the throes of Yuletide festivities. After the holidays, she left for Miss World duties in London. It was a year of charity appearances, working with children, doing fashion shows, judging pageants, and jetting across the world.

Meeting Nelson Mandela

Says Hanna: The high point of the year for me was attending the installation of Nelson Mandela as the first black president of apartheid-free South Africa. I spent time in South Africa during the election campaign, and what a great learning experience it was for me!”

The Miss World organisation realised that she “was not really a fashion show Miss World” and allowed her to follow her interest in serving the cause of children. Soon enough, a new queen emerged and it was time to hand over the crown. As she placed the tiara on Miss India’s head, Hanna kissed her and whispered: “You will have one of the best times of your life.”

Everyone but the new queen was promptly ushered off stage and behind the cordon. Hanna was now at table number three and out of the spotlight. It was a long way back down to earth after the dizzying heights to which she had soared. But, thanks to her dad, the Jamaican girl was prepared for it.

“The prize money, the bonuses, the first class travel everywhere, the red carpet — it could get to you. Some girls carry that forever, but you need to move on,” she philosophises.

“For me, it is not the position nor the title that gave the credibility or status, it was the substance that I gave to the journey.”