A Royal Reveals: New Zealand Has Changed Me

A PRINCESS NO MORE, TESSY FINDS HER PLACE

- Alice O’Connell

She may have started the year as a princess and ended it as a private citizen, but Tessy Antony de Nassau has proved that her title was never what defined her, as she finishes the year on a high right here in New Zealand.

Previously known as Her Royal Highness Princess Tessy of Luxembourg, she lost her title in September following her divorce from Prince Louis of Luxembourg (33), her husband of 11 years and the third son of Luxembourg’s Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. They have two children together, Prince Gabriel (13), and Prince Noah (12).

When she first spoke of the divorce in April, she was confident she would tread her own path, whatever became of her HRH status.

“A title doesn’t make you who you are,” she said. “A woman has her own merits and it’s not who you marry or what name you carry, it is what you have achieved in your own right."

Ten months on, she is certainly proving herself. Beyond her life as a royal, Tessy (34) is also an astute businesswoman, an activist and a humanitarian, and she’s determined to continue to make a difference in the world.

“Yes, I was married and in the royal family,” she tells the Weekly from Christchurch, “but I also have an education, and that’s my work. I go around and work with governments and institutions, and I love my work.”

This month her work brought her to New Zealand to see first-hand the effects of the Canterbury earthquakes and the March 15 shootings, as a guest of The Christchurch Foundation. Tessy says she received an email from its founder, Amy Carter, about a “thinker in residence” programme the foundation runs, sponsored by KPMG.