Lady Helen Taylor

Lady Helen Marina Lucy Taylor (née Windsor; born 28 April 1964) is a daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and his wife, Katharine, Duchess of Kent, and a great-granddaughter of King George V. She is currently 42nd in line of succession to the British Throne.

Early life and youth

Born at Coppins, a country house in Iver, Buckinghamshire, Lady Helen is the only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent. She was educated at Eton End^[1] School in Datchet then at St Mary's School, Wantage^[2], and Gordonstoun.^[3] At Gordonstoun, she was one of 20 sixth form girls "in the robustly masculine environment of Gordonstoun," wrote Alan Hamilton.^[4]

She was called "Melons" in the popular press.^[5][6]

"I was slightly chubby, it was the boys at Gordonstoun who called me that. I think there are only about two people who call me that now. The original context has long gone" ..."If having a pint of Tennents in the woods at Gordonstoun could be considered wild, then I was. The trouble with me and parties is I like to be in bed at 10.30. I did used to smoke but I was always terrified of drugs." ^[7]

Career

After she left Gordonstoun (where she had art class), she was desperate^[8] to come to London and earn money, starting in 1984 at Christie’s auction house in their Contemporary Department.^[9]

Lady Helen worked with the art dealer Karsten Schubert between 1987 and 1991, behind the front desk and later credited with discovering Rachel Whiteread and Gary Hume, but confessing in a television interview that she had turned down representing artist Damien Hirst.^[10]

For 17 years, Lady Helen was a fashion ambassador and muse to Giorgio Armani.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]}

Marriage and children

At 19, Lady Helen met^[8] Timothy Verner Taylor (b. 8 August 1963), an art dealer and the eldest son of Commander Michael Verner Taylor, RN and Susan Geraldine Percy. They married at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on 18 July 1992.^[28] . The bride wore a Catherine Walker design^[29] inspired by the architecture of the wedding venue.^[30] Giorgio Armani provided an outfit for her wedding.^[19]

In 1998, her husband contracted Hodgkin's disease.^[8]

Lady Helen and her husband have four children, who immediately follow her in the line of succession:

• Columbus George Donald Taylor (born 6 August 1994)
• Cassius Edward Taylor (born 26 December 1996)
• Eloise Olivia Katherine Taylor (born 2 March 2003)
• Estella Olga Elizabeth Taylor (born 21 December 2004)

Charity work

She is a patron of the CLIC Sargent children's cancer charity.^[31][32]

She is a trustee of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.^[9]

She is on the Advisory Board of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera after being a trustee.^{[9][33][33][34]}

Ancestry

References

External links

• The Peerage