Great-granddaughter of George V, she bears the first name of her sublime grandmother, Marina of Greece, Duchess of Kent. Passionate about ecology, Lady Marina Windsor decided to devote herself to saving the oceans.
“It is such a privilege to travel and be able to see beautiful places in the world and how great this planet is. Traveling encourages you to want to protect the people, animals and nature on our planet.” Recently interviewed exclusively by the magazine Hello !Marina did not hide her fears for the future: “Right now we are in a climate crisis and there is an urgent need to try to help protect the planet, our oceans and each other if we wanted a planet for future generations to live on. We need to take serious action.”
The second child of George, Earl of St Andrew, and Sylvana Tomaselli, Marina Charlotte Alexandra Katharine Helen was born on September 30, 1992, in Cambridge, where her mother taught history. Elizabeth II was the first cousin of her paternal grandfather, Edward Duke of Kent. However, upon converting to Roman Catholicism – along with her older brother Edward Lord Downpatrick – she lost her rights to the throne, under theAct of Settlement of 1701. Among his ancestors, we find of course British, but also Canadians, Austrians, French, Italians, Germans, Greeks, Danes… Such a heritage must have given him a sense of universalism and a taste for travel. After boarding at St Mary’s School in Ascot, a nursery for young girls of the aristocracy, Marina will pursue studies in modern languages at the University of Edinburgh, which will allow her to carry out internships in France and Brazil.
Save the oceans
In 2010, at the age of 18, she played as a model in the pages of Tatler to please the fashion designer Hardy Amies, but hardly thinks of pursuing such a career. She then considered diplomacy and a career at the UN, although she recognized that the competition was tough. In fact, she will then give up this project, but not her passion for international relations. We will see her in Florence, at the New Generation festival, or in Thailand, where she tries Muay Thai boxing.
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If she joined the editorial staff of the magazine in 2021 Vogue, to launch into journalism, his humanitarian fiber is not new. She first worked for Big Give, a non-profit organization that connects donors and organizations looking for funding. Since then, she has joined her cousin Eugenie of York and her younger sister Amelia (“We are best friends and are very close”) in their fight to defend the oceans, within Blue Marine Foundation. The objectives of this NGO are ambitious: to achieve that 30% of marine areas are placed under effective protection by 2030, and that the rest is managed responsibly. Blue Marine Foundation therefore fights to restore habitats and against overfishing by developing sustainable fishing models.
Marina adds, in her interview with Hello ! : “It aligns with my values because I have a passion for all things related to the environment and the planet. I have always wanted to work somewhere that is focused on helping to alleviate the climate crisis .I’ve learned so much since I’ve been here, and I’m surrounded by incredible marine biologists and brilliant people who protect the oceans, I think we all want to help in our own way, right?”
“Disposable fashion is incredibly destructive”
But the environmental involvement of Charles III’s little cousin is not limited to the open sea. The one who almost became a model now campaigns for “ethical fashion”: “Disposable fashion is incredibly destructive for our planet. I try to buy sustainable brands in charity or vintage shops, and often I borrow clothes from friends. It’s a really good thing to do. That’s what my friends and I try to do a lot more. And just wear things for longer and buy less stuff, consume less when possible. .” Her mother, Sylvana, also supports her daughter in her “crusade” in favor of an eco-responsible style: “I think that the previous generation took care of their clothes, assures Marina. I try to do the same. Ma my mother still has some clothes in perfect condition that she wore when she was 20. I’m lucky that she very generously lends me her things. She has a great sense of style.
Very close to her family, at 31, Marina shares the daily life of her “incredible grandparents”, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, who occupy Wren House, an outbuilding of Kensington Palace, in London. This is her home base, where the young woman likes to recharge her batteries and cultivate her roots. Even if the call of adventure never takes long to be heard. She plans to soon visit Iceland, Mongolia, Indonesia and the Philippines… no doubt with her companion, Scottish cabinetmaker Eion Gibbs, also a globetrotter who, for 10 months in 2014, crossed Europe in hitchhiking, from Hook van Holland to Istanbul
