Lee Radziwill, Jackie Kennedy Onassis' younger sister, dies at 85

Lee Radziwill, Jackie Kennedy onassis' younger sister, dies at 85

Bill Trott

Reuters,

February 17, 2019 / 5:09 AM

(Reuters) - Lee Radziwill, the younger sister of Jacqueline Kennedy onassis who was witness to history in the “Camelot” White House, married a prince and counted Andy Warhol, Truman Capote and Rudolf Nureyev as friends in a star-studded life, has died at the age of 85, according to U.S. media reports.

FILE PHOTO - First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (L) stands with her sister, Princess Lee Radziwill of Poland, and niece, Anna Christina Radziwill, on the walkway outside the Oval Office with the Kennedy family dog Clipper at the White House in Washington, D.C., January 15, 1963. Courtesy Cecil Stoughton/JFK Library/Handout via REUTERS 

 

CBS News, citing family friend Mathilde Favier, the public relations director for Christian Dior, said Radziwill died on Friday. Women’s Wear Daily had first reported the death on its website, saying it occurred at Radziwill’s New York City home. The cause was unknown.

 

Radziwill’s world was inhabited by doyennes of high society, artistic celebrities, fashion moguls and wealthy, prominent husbands - including one whose royal status made her a real-life princess. She was an actress, interior decorator, author, fashion public relations executive and television interviewer, although some of those careers were short-lived.

Radziwill was a portrait of sophistication and words such as “enchanting” and “adored” seasoned her conversations. For years she was a perennial entry on international best-dressed lists.

Caroline Lee Bouvier was born March 3, 1933, in Southampton, New York, four years after her sister, the future first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy onassis. She was called Lee to appease a “rather unpleasant grandfather,” Radziwill told the New York Times.

The Bouvier sisters were close but there was an undercurrent of competition between them. one biographer said the girls’ father, the dashing John “Black Jack” Bouvier, favored Jackie and Lee felt she could not live up to his expectations. Both girls idolized their father but Lee said she had a difficult relationship with their mother, Janet, who called her fat.