The Fairest Of Them All

Posted: Thursday 28 April 2011 01:20pm

A global online poll of 127,000 people voting on the world’s 10 most beautiful royals has seen Kate Middleton pip her legendarily glamorous late mother-in-law, Diana, at the post.

But even these regal English roses didn’t lead the pack.

According to the survey conducted by BeautifulPeople.com ahead of the royal wedding, Princess Grace of Monaco – the former American Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly – rates as the most beautiful royal, followed by exotic Queen Rania of Jordan.

The list is an eclectic one, in this order:

• Princess Grace of Monaco, consort of Rainier III of Monaco (1929-1982)
• Queen Rania of Jordan, consort of King Abdullah II of Jordan

• Catherine Middleton, soon-to-be princess
• Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997)

• Charlotte Casiraghi, daughter of Princess Caroline of Hanover and granddaughter of Grace and Rainier of Monaco
• Princess Gayatri Devi of India (1919-2009)

• Princess Madeleine of Sweden
• Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, our very own Mary Donaldson

• Princess Margaret, the Queen’s sister (1930-2002)
• Crown Princess Masako of Japan

“‘Kate Middleton is no typical beauty,” said Greg Hodge, managing director of BeautifulPeople.com of Prince William’s bride-to-be.

Click here for our photo gallery of Royal Brides through the ages.

“But her style, deportment and immaculate grooming have clearly won her an army of admirers, propelling her to the same heights as Princess Grace and Queen Rania.

“I think the world is breathing a sigh of relief that the British monarchy can only get better looking in generations to come.”

A bit unnecessary perhaps, Greg, but the obsession with beautiful princesses and fairytale royal weddings, even in today’s cynical society, is almost inborn, even though we have seen repeatedly there are no Cinderella, happy-ever-after endings.

In the late 70s, as a young reporter working in the London bureau of a Sydney newspaper, I covered the romance, engagement of Charles and Diana to the exclusion of almost everything else for nearly two years.

Their story gripped the nation like a fever, arguably tenfold more than even Kate and William’s nuptials.

When that “fairytale” began, Diana worked as a helper at a church kindergarten down the street from where I lived. At lunchtimes I would regularly see her out walking with the children; a very tall, attractive girl, head usually bowed and face blushing because of all the stares her newfound fame was attracting.

I’d see her sometimes shopping in Knightsbridge, home of Harrods and Harvey Nicholls department stores, sifting through clothes racks. She had that exquisite English rose complexion and a much curvier figure than we all came to know as her marriage and psyche systematically cracked.

I was fascinated by Diana but in all honesty I didn’t see in her then the mythical princess she was to become.

Over subsquent years as a newspaper reporter back in Australia, I saw Diana during several royal tours here. She was much sleeker and glossier (and thinner) than the “Shy Di” about London, the product of a systematic makeover by an army of fashion stylists, hairdressers, makeup artists and assorted gurus.

But what truly made her beautiful was her charisma, mystery and presence; an almost ethereal glow and a smile that lit up a room (what wasn’t fashionable to say at the time was how surly and unhappy Diana seemed whenever out of camera range).

Was she a true beauty? Not in the classic sense, just as Greg Hodge says of Kate. What she had was “it”, an indefinable magic. Does Kate have that … only time will tell.

Who do you think is the fairest of them all and why? We’d like to hear your comments.

 

by Jenni Gilbert

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