Alice "Kiki" Preston was an American socialite, a member of the Happy Valley set, and the alleged mother of a child born out of wedlock with Prince George, Duke of Kent, fourth son of King George V The child is rumored to be Michael Temple Canfield.
23 Facts About Kiki Preston
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Kiki Preston's drug addiction earned her the nickname "the girl with the silver syringe", Preston was a fixture of high social circles in Paris and New York City, and a relative of the prominent Vanderbilt and Whitney families.
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Kiki Preston was born in 1898 in Hempstead, New York, the daughter of Edward Erskine Gwynne, Sr.
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Kiki Preston's mother was a great-granddaughter of Justice Samuel Chase, one of the signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence, as well as a granddaughter of Joshua Barney, commodore of the United States Navy during the American Revolutionary War.
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Kiki Preston was descended from Peter Jacquette, the second Dutch governor of Delaware.
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Kiki Preston's father was the nephew of tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife, socialite Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt, making him a distant relation of the wealthy Whitney family.
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Kiki Preston's parents were married in New York City on May 25,1896.
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Besides Kiki Preston, they had two sons, one being Edward Erskine Gwynne, Jr.
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Two years later, on May 10,1904, Kiki Preston's father died of acute kidney problems at the age of 35, the same day the case of the suit was to be brought up in the court.
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In November 1924, Kiki Preston applied for divorce at the Paris courts, on the grounds of desertion.
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Kiki Preston was a scandalous presence among the Happy Valley set, noted both for her beauty, as well as her wild lifestyle, which included partying all night long, rising from bed during dinnertime and drug abuse.
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Kiki Preston had become a notorious drug addict by that point; taking heroin, cocaine and morphine.
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Kiki Preston was nicknamed "the girl with the silver syringe", due to her habit of always carrying with her a syringe with which she injected herself.
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Kiki Preston was reported to often take out the silver syringe to inject herself, oblivious to onlookers.
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Kiki Preston was one of the clients of Frank Greswolde Williams, the main drug dealer of the Kenya colony, until his death in 1932.
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Kiki Preston had many lovers during that time, including actor Rudolph Valentino and Prince George, Duke of Kent, whom she first met in the mid-1920s.
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Kiki Preston rushed back to Paris to be by his side because it was believed he was close to death.
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Kiki Preston was tried, fined $50, and incurred a 30-day suspended sentence.
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In February 1937, her brother-in-law, sportsman Lewis Thompson Kiki Preston died, at age 37.
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Kiki Preston graduated from Harvard University in 1951 and worked as London representative of Harper and Row.
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Kiki Preston married twice, first to Caroline Lee Bouvier, younger sister of Jacqueline Kennedy, in 1953 and then to Laura Ward, Countess of Dudley in 1960.
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Kiki Preston is referenced in James Fox's best-selling investigative non-fiction book White Mischief.
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Kiki Preston appears as a character in Clint Jefferies' play African Nights.