Zenouska Mowatt pictured in September 1992 on her way to school. Photo / Getty
Zenouska Mowatt pictured in September 1992 on her way to school. Photo / Getty
A fetish mag, state benefits and a shock pregnancy — everything you need to know about the royal family's most scandalous chapter.
You would be forgiven for having not noticed Zenouska Mowatt during last weekend's Trooping the Colour.
After all, Prince Louis was making his Buckingham Palace debut in the requisite adorable shorts and Meghan, Duchess of Cambridge had taken a break from her maternity leave to turn up with a dazzling new diamond ring for us to talk about.
However, there on the far left-hand side of the iconic balcony was Zenouska Mowatt and she just happens to be 56th in line to the throne.
Zenouska Mowatt, far left, joined the rest of the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Trooping the Colour ceremony. Photo / Getty
Zenouska Mowatt, far left,popping up on Palace balconies and at various Royal events. Photo / Getty
While you might be forgiven for writing her off as just another aristocratic girl with an impeccable taste in fascinators and not much else to report on, you would be spectacularly wrong.
Because her family's backstory is WILD.
For years, her mother Marina Ogilvy was the Windsor family's most infamous black sheep whose frowned upon antics — such as posing for a fetish magazine, getting pregnant while single, living on government benefits and choosing to wear black to her wedding — were obsessively chronicled by the tabloids in '90s.
Marina Ogilvy is Charles's goddaughter and the daughter of the Queen's cousin, Princess Alexandra, and Sir Angus Ogilvy.
Princess Alexandra is technically "more royal" than the Queen having two royal parents — her mother was Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark and her father was Prince George, the Duke of Kent, and is related to all the leading European houses of royalty.
WHAT'S THIS ABOUT A FETISH MAG?
While a number of royal women have been shot for British Vogue — Meghan Markle soon to be among them — it is hard to imagine they would ever consider a shoot with Skin Two, a London-based mag catering to fetish subculture.
In the late '80s, Marina appeared on the front of this eyebrow-raising title wearing a rubber jumpsuit, a crown on her head and surrounded by corgis. Bet that went down a treat over Sunday lunch.
MARINA FINDS LOVE?
And there's a boy involved here somewhere, right? Yep. In 1989, when Marina was 26th in line to the throne, she caused conniptions among the upper crust after she revealed she was pregnant, which would have been the first royal birth out of wedlock in more than 90 years.
Marina with her husband, Paul Mowatt, after their wedding in February, 1990. Photo / AP
The father of her baby was freelance photographer Paul Mowatt, the son of a Scottish trumpeter.
Theirs was not a widely celebrated union.
"The moment she met that creep everything started going wrong," a school friend told the Telegraphin 2003. "Seeing their relationship play out was like watching a car crash happening."
Marina Mowatt and her photographer husband Paul after their marriage. Photo / News Corp Australia
Marina Mowatt, daughter of Princess Alexandra and Sir Angus Ogilvy, with husband Paul Mowatt and daughter Zenouska pictured in June 1996. Photo / Getty
Marina then committed what might be the most outrageous royal sin and gave an interview in which she alleged that her parents, Princess Alexandra and Sir Angus, had given her an ultimatum: A shot gun wedding or an abortion.
During this whole messy, sad fracas, Marina and her godfather Prince Charles are said to have fallen out and would not speak until years later.
THE BLACK WEDDING DRESS
In February 1990, with the Queen's consent, a pregnant-Marina and Paul married. But, in what has been interpreted as a middle finger to her family, the bride skipped the usual frothy white confection and walked down the aisle in a black velvet number with a matching black hat.
Sadly not. A friend of Marina's has alleged that, "there were fights, sometimes physical ones, between husband and wife. On one occasion Paul was ordered to leave the home by police."
Undated photo of Marina Mowatt with her father, Sir Angus Ogilvy, and her children Christian and Zenouska. Photo / News Corp Australia
In 1997, the couple (who had gone on to have a son named Christian too) split up.
MONEY PROBLEMS
Marina continued to hit the headlines into the naughties. In 2003 it was revealed that she was claiming income support and child benefits, The Times reported, despite the fact her parents were worth a reported $40 million.
Complicating the PR-crisis for the royal family as the fact that she was living in a cottage on the grounds of Windsor Great Park (the area where Meghan and Harry live now). However, she was paying rent, according to reports.
Things have calmed down for Marina Ogilvy these days. She now lives in a castle on the Windsor Castle grounds and is said to have patched things up with Charles.
The Duchess Of York, Sarah Ferguson, takes her daughter Eugenie, right, and Zenouska Mowatt to school in September 1992. Photo / Getty
Zenouska has appeared on the Palace balcony for Trooping the Colour both in 2018 and this year and was photographed attending the extended Windsor family Christmas lunch in 2017 when Meghan Markle met the clan and Princess Michael of Kent chose to wear a racist Blackamoor brooch.
Zenouska now pops up on the London social scene, has a positively lovely Instagram (she likes posting from Royal Ascot and Trooping the Colour) and is the Head of Marketing for jewellery brand Halcyon Days.
Here is an extra, very racy titbit. Princess Alexandra married husband Angus Ogilvy in 1963.
Her cousin, the Queen, lent the newlyweds her beloved Balmoral for their honeymoon. A photographer, allegedly, caught them, ah … let's just say, cavorting in a field.
