Lady Nicholas Windsor (born Paola Louise Marica Doimi de Lupis, 7 August 1969) is the wife of

Lord Nicholas Windsor Lord Nicholas Charles Edward Jonathan Windsor (born 25 July 1970) is a relative of the British royal family, youngest child of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. As a Catholic convert, he has forfeited his right of succession to the throne. Lord Ni ...

, son of the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, t ...

and

Duchess of Kent Duchess of Kent is the principal Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Kent. There have been four titles referring to Kent since the 18th century. The current duchess is Katharine, Duchess of Kent, ...

Early life

Lady Nicholas Windsor was born as Paola Louise Marica Doimi de Lupis. She used this name as an undergraduate at Cambridge in 1989;Cambridge University List of Members Up to 31 December 1988, Cambridge University Press, 1989, pg 345 by 1993 her entry includes the added 'Frankopan Šubić', while parenthetically including her original name for clarification.Cambridge University List of Members Up to 31 December 1991, Cambridge University Press, 1993, pg 28 By the time of her marriage she was known as Princess Paola Doimi de Lupis Frankopan Šubić Zrinski. Her father is Louis Doimi de Lupis, who claimed to be a member of the Frankopan family. Her mother is Ingrid Detter, a barrister and professor of law at Stockholm University. The announcement of Lady Nicholas's marriage refers to her parents as '

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vil ...

' and 'Donna'. She has one sister, Christina, and three brothers,

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

, Nicholas, and Lawrence.

Education and career

Paola Windsor was educated at

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is an independent day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England. History St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part ...

and at

Wycombe Abbey , motto_translation = Go in faith , established = 1896 , type = Independent boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Headmistress , head = J. Duncan , chair_label = Chair ...

, where she was a William Johnston Yapp Scholar. She read Classics at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of ...

, where she was a Choral Scholar and took a '' Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies'' (

M.Phil. The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

equivalent) at

Paris IV Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the Univ ...

La Sorbonne , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

in Philosophy, submitting a thesis in French entitled ''L'autorité de l'État'' (English: "The authority of the state"). As Paola Frankopan, she has written for ''

The Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those intere ...

'', where she is a contributing editor, and for ''

Vogue USA ''Vogue'' is an American monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine that covers many topics, including haute couture fashion, beauty, culture, living, and runway. Based at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, ''V ...

''. She has published an introduction to the history of the Sanctuary of Trsat (''Trsatska Sveta Kuća'' in Croatian).

Marriage and family

She met her husband,

, at a millennium party in New York in 1999, and their engagement was announced on 26 September 2006. They married on 4 November 2006 in the Church of Santo Stefano degli Abissini in the

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

, following a civil ceremony on 19 October 2006 in a London

register office A register office or The General Register Office, much more commonly but erroneously registry office (except in official use), is a British government office where births, deaths, marriages, civil partnership, stillbirths and adoptions in Engl ...

, and she became Lady Nicholas Windsor. The bride wore a Valentino wedding gown. This was the first time a member of the British Royal Family married at the Vatican. A House of Commons Early Day Motion welcomed "the first overt marriage within the rites of the Catholic Church of a member of the Royal Family since the reign of

Queen Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

, and the first marriage of a member of the Royal Family to take place within the Vatican City State". Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor's first child, a son, Albert Louis Philip Edward, was born on 22 September 2007, at the

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is a 430-bed teaching hospital located in Chelsea, London. Although the hospital has been at its present site since only 1993, the hospital has a rich history in that it serves as the new site for the Westminst ...

, London. At birth Albert was 26th in the

line of succession An order of succession or right of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated such as head of state or an honour such as a title of nobility. Catholic rites in the

Queen's Chapel The Queen's Chapel (officially, ''The Queen's Chapel St. James Palace'' and previously the German Chapel) is a chapel in central London, England, that was designed by Inigo Jones and built between 1623 and 1625 as an external adjunct to St. James' ...

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Alt ...

in London. Lady Nicholas gave birth to their second child, Leopold Ernest Augustus Guelph, on 8 September 2009 at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. He was baptised by Cardinal

Angelo Comastri Angelo Comastri (born 17 September 1943) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica from 2006 to 2021, and Vicar General for the Vatican City State and President of the Fabric of Saint Peter from 2005 ...

St Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal ...

in the Vatican. A third son, Louis Arthur Nicholas Felix Windsor, was born on 27 May 2014 at

and like his brother Albert was baptised with Catholic rites in the

in London.

References

External links

*The family websit
La Casata dei Lupi
(Italian language), contains photos of Lord and Lady Nicholas, their first son Albert, and members of the Lupis family. Retrieved 26 September 2009.

(Italian language) hosted by ''Società Genealogica Italiana – SGI'' (President- Marchese Marco Lupis) Retrieved 26 September 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Windsor, Nicholas Lady 1969 births Living people Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge English people of Croatian descent English people of Italian descent English people of Swedish descent English Roman Catholics Frankopan family Nicholas Windsor, Lady People educated at St Paul's Girls' School People educated at Wycombe Abbey University of Paris alumni Wives of younger sons of peers