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Virginia Beach teen invited to be debutant at Queen Charlotte’s Ball in England

Posted at 10:45 PM, Aug 26, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-27 12:40:37-04

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Rebekah Sadovnikov is just like most 16-year-old's in Hampton Roads. She likes to hang out with her friends, go rock climbing, and take pictures.

"The nicest thing I owned for a long time was an Apple computer," she says.

However, next week, Rebekah will be anything but ordinary.

She is one of only twenty women in the entire world invited to a party by British high society.

Rebekah was asked to be a debutant at Queen Charlotte's Ball in England. The charity event still holds traditions from past centuries to heart, like the formal procession of debutants.

She will also get to stay at the county estate of the Duke and Duchess of Somerset.

"I mean I've traveled a lot, but it was just like get here, go, get here, go...not sip tea and play croquet," says Rebekah. "It's just overwhelming, also cool, extremely cool, and amazing. A lot of different emotions going on."

Rebekah says she found out about the ball while simply surfing the web. As someone who loves to dress up for nicer events, she talked with her maternal grandmother, and they figured, "why not?"

"I e-mailed them and I said look, you never had a middle class person here before," she says. "This kind of came as a shock to both of us cause you know this is kind of just for fun it`s not like we were expecting anything from it."

With a gorgeous $2,000 dress and nearly a week of debutant itinerary just days away, Rebekah's dream is slowly becoming a reality.

"I've tried for a lot of different opportunities and I've failed on them too, but you have to try in order to get somewhere," she says. "You just have to work to make your dreams come true."

Rebekah will head to England on August 31st with her grandparents. She will attend the ball on September 10th.