Lady Helen Taylor (UK)

[Mouse]

Daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, which makes her first cousin once removed of the queen.

She's always kind of irked me because she's famous for...well...nothing, really. Doesn't have Zara Phillips's pluck or personality. Seems kind of boring. Am I missing something?

[pepper67]

I like what I've seen of her. I think she basically gets photographed because of who she is, but she doesn't go the Paris Hilton route and try to grab headlines or anything. She's just there.

IIRC, the last time I saw anything on her was when one of her kids was born and she was in Hello or some magazine like that - and that was years ago. Maybe I'm just not paying attention to the right headlines or magazines though.

Of course, it's also entirely possible that I've got her mixed up with some other Royal. After a while, they all start to look alike to me.

[pepper67]

She had a child a few months ago and was in Hello! then.

Is this her first? Because the article I vaguely (very vaguely) remember seeing wasn't recent at all. Either she's been in Hello more than once or I've definitely got her mixed up with someone else (which is always possible).

[Aspasia]

Lady Helen is one of my favorites of the British royals. She has four children, 2 boys and 2 girls. The girls were born in 2003 and the last was 12/2004. The girls were born after her husband was declared in remission for Hodgkins disease, which is a form of cancer.

She has been labeled as Armani's muse, but the official title is ambassador for his line and she also has/had a job as rep for Bulgari jewelry.

[Mouse]

Well, she doesn't seem like a famewhore. I'll give her that.

[pepper67]

Thanks for the information, Aspasia. I must have seen the Hello cover in 2003. I had no idea her husband had had Hodgkins though - I'm glad he went into remission.

[americanchai]

I'd say she was one of the bigger famewhores of the cousin-royals. She was considered hot stuff when she was young and single as she was also the best-looking royal this side of Diana.

She's an "ambassador" for Valentino now. I remember years ago Tatler did a great cover story on her that talked about how she wasn't really that good-looking, she wasn't that intelligent, she wasn't even that arty (she was a director of an art gallery at the time) but she was the best royal there was. It was hilarious.

Here's some Helen trivia:

David Flint-Wood, who is the father of India Hicks's children, used to date Helen.

Helen dated a bunch of the same guys who dated Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (apparently there was a lot of unspoken rivalry between the two of them).

[Deleted]

Helen also stole one of Lady Sarah's boyfriends, I remember.
I also remember that Helen was quite a party girl back in the day. A good friend of hers at school OD'ed and one went to jail. Helen herself was later photographed sunbathing topless and nicknamed "melons" by the British press.
I find her pompous masquerading as "grounded" in her interviews, so submerged in a privileged world.
I remember that Lord Snowdon took some stunning photos of her when she was quite young, with shorter and darker hair - she looked beautiful. Now she just resembles a high-class soccer mom (which I suppose she is).