Lee Radziwill, Fashion Icon and American Princess, has Died
Caroline Lee Radziwill, a renowned public relations executive, classic American style icon, former princess of sorts, and the younger sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, died in New York City on Friday, WWD reports. Radziwill was 85-years-old.
Born Caroline Lee Bouvier, Radziwill dabbled in acting and interior design before rising to prominence as an era-defining socialite and, then, in the ’80s as a PR executive for Armani, which WWD called the “by far the most successful of her work endeavors.” She was also hailed as a style icon, and was named to the Best Dressed List’s Hall of Fame in 1996.
While Jackie O was married to John F. Kennedy, Radziwill was adjacent to America’s unofficial royal family. But Radziwill had achieved official royal status of her own, when she married the Polish aristocrat Prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwill in 1959. The marriage earned Radziwill the title of “Her Serene Highness.” The couple had two children, including the late Anthony Radziwill, husband of Carole Radziwill, before ultimately divorcing in 1974. Radziwill was married once more, to the American filmmaker Herbert Ross.
Lee Radziwill’s Best Style Moments: Timeless American Elegance in Pictures
Portrait of American Princess Lee Radziwill, sister of Jaqueline Kennedy, sitting on a couch, 1960s (Photo by Express Newspapers/Getty Images).
Lee Radziwill and Jackie Onassis (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 28: Lee Radziwill at Truman Capote BW Ball on November 28, 1966 in New York, New York. (Photo by Santi Visalli/Getty Images)
Lee Radziwill and Carter Brown (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill and Jackie Onassis during Sighting After Leaving Performance at Alvin Theatre – May 11, 1970 at Alvin Theatre in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 28: Lee Radziwill posing for a photo on November 28, 1966 in New York, New York. (Photo by Santi Visalli/Getty images)
NEW YORK CITY – OCTOBER 6: John Warnecke and Lee Radziwell attend Pierre Cardin Fashion Retrospective on October 6, 1980 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage)
Lee Radziwill and Anthony Radziwill during 21st & 18th Birthday Party for Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr at Le Club in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
London July 26th 1976. Lee Radziwill arriving at her house (Photo by Tom Wargacki/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill and guest during Beverly Sills Farewell Performance at Lincoln Center in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Rudolph Nureyev and Lee Radziwill (Photo by Tom Wargacki/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Jackie Onassis and Lee Radziwill (Photo by Tom Wargacki/WireImage)
NEW YORK CITY – JULY 22: Lee Radziwill and Richard Meier attend “Heartburn” Premiere on July 22, 1986 at Loew’s Tower East Theater in New York City. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill (Photo by Jim Smeal/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
NEW YORK CITY – SEPTEMBER 23: Lee Radziwill and Herb Ross attend Lee Radziwill-Herb Ross Wedding Reception on September 23, 1988 at the home of Jackie Onassis in New York City. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill (Photo by RJ Capak/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill during Opening Party for Sony Plaza at Sony Plaza in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill and Herb Ross during “Othello” Opening Night – May 12, 1997 at Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill during Opening of Puccini’s “La Boheme” – September 9, 1993 at Dorothy Chandler Music Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by Jim Smeal/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill and Herb Ross during Museum of the Moving Image Honors Robert DeNiro at Waldorf Astoria in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill and Herb Ross during New York Premiere Party for “Bugsy” – December 10, 1991 at Museum of Modern Art in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage)
Lee Radziwill during HBO Film Premiere of “Women and Men: Stories of Seduction” at East Hampton Cinema in East Hampton, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill during Lee Radziwill At Spago’s Restaurant – January 27, 1991 at Spago’s in Hollywood, California, United States. (Photo by Jim Smeal/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill during Norman Parkinson Photography Benefit at National Academy of Design in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill and Herb Ross during “France Dance” Celebrating The Bicentennial of The French Revolution at Alice Tully Hall – Lincoln Center in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Lee Radziwill and date during Opening of The Paris Ballet at Metropolitian Opera House in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Jim Smeal/WireImage)
Sisters and socialites Princess Lee Radziwill and Jacqueline Kennedy, sitting in the back of a car in London, May 15th 1965. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)
While Radziwill was a glamorous figure in her own right—she once accompanied the Rolling Stones alongside Truman Capote during the band’s 1972 American tour—she was inextricably linked to her sister, often to her dismay. In 2016, Vanity Fair wrote about the siblings’ “complicated sisterhood,” and described the many ways in which their lives were “deeply intertwined.”
Lee Radziwell and Andy Warhol during Metropolitan Museum Costume Exhibit – December 11, 1975 at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
In his in his 1969 book, The Bouviers, John H. Davis wrote that Jackie’s “accession to the White House promised to magnify a problem [Lee] had had to cope with for some time, the problem simply of being Jackie’s sister. Although she was abundantly gifted herself … she had often been obscured by the shadow of her sister’s prominence, and now that shadow threatened to eclipse her identity.”
Giorgio Armani, Lee Radziwill and Martin Scorsese (Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage)
Radziwill went so far as to tell a reporter that she was “sick” of stories that linked her and her sister. “It’s like we’re Siamese twins!” She said.
A cause of death has not yet been announced.
Related: Why Lee Radziwill Was One of the Best Dressed American Women of All Time
