Tessa Kennedy
| Tessa Kennedy | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Tessa Georgina Kennedy 6 December 1938 Guildford, Surrey, England, UK |
| Nationality | British |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Education |
The Downs School (1949-1952) Oak Hall (Wispers School), Haslemere (1952-1957) École des Beaux-Arts (1957) |
| Occupation | interior designer |
| Years active | 1940–present |
| Employer | Tessa Kennedy Design, Ltd. |
| Known for | Elopement |
| Home town | London, England, UK |
| Spouse(s) |
Dominick Elwes (1st husband) Elliott Kastner (2nd husband) |
| Children |
Cassian Elwes Damian Elwes Cary Elwes Dillon Kastner Milica, Mrs Corcoran |
| Parent(s) | Geoffrey Kennedy Daška Ivanović |
| Relatives | Siblings: Marina (twin sister) Caroline Alexander |
| Website |
Official website BIDA website |
Tessa Georgina Kennedy, FIIDA (born 6 December 1938) is a British interior designer, whose clients include multi-national corporations, royalty, celebrities and many European hotels, restaurants and clubs. Her elopement with society portrait painter Dominick Elwes made headlines in 1957.
Kennedy was born in Guildford, Surrey, one of three daughters of Osijek-born Daška Ivanović (1915–2004), and her first husband Geoffrey Alexander Farrer Kennedy (1908–1996). She is a niece of diplomat and former Yugoslav shipping magnate Vane Ivanović and great-great-niece of Dušan Popović, one of the founders of Yugoslavia. She is a great-granddaughter of the British engineer, Sir Alexander Blackie Kennedy and granddaughter of Sir John MacFarlane Kennedy, as well as of industrialist Ivan Rikard Ivanović. Her mother was of Croatian Jewish and Serbian descent. After her parents' divorce in 1949, her mother remarried, to Lt. Col. Neil McLean, DSO.
At age 18, Kennedy became a cause célèbre when she eloped with 26-year-old portrait painter, Dominick Elwes. Kennedy's father, however, disapproved of the relationship and instituted wardship proceedings. On 27 November 1957 he obtained a restraining order from a judge, Justice Sir Ronald F. Roxburgh, against Elwes, thus barring the couple from getting married. The High Court Tipstaff was not authorized, however, to apprehend Elwes in any place outside England and Wales. After initially attempting to wed in Scotland while being pursued by the press, the young couple eloped to Havana, Cuba, where they were wed in a civil ceremony on 27 January 1958 as guests of mobster Meyer Lansky who provided accommodation for them at his hotel, The Habana Riviera. When Castro's revolution threatened the stability of the country they were forced to flee aboard a raft with two National Geographic explorers who were sailing to Miami, Florida.
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Wikipedia