Carina, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born Carina Axelsson; August 5, 1968) is an American author and former model, best known for the teen fashion detective series ''Model Undercover''. Her other series are the ''Nigel of Hyde Park'' books and the ''Royal Rebel'' books. As a model, she appeared on the covers of ''

Madame Figaro ''Madame Figaro'' is a French magazine supplement to the Saturday edition of the daily newspaper ''Le Figaro'', focusing on and catering to women. History and profile The first edition was published in 1980. ''Madame Figaro'' was spearheaded by ...

'', ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'', and ''Vogue Patterns'' in the 1990s. She is the wife of

Gustav, 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Gustav, 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-BerleburgIn 1919 royalty and nobility were mandated to lose their privileges in Germany, hereditary titles were to be legally borne thereafter only as part of the surname, according tArticle 109of the Weima ...

Biography and career

Personal life

Carina Axelsson was born on August 5, 1968 in Northern California, United States, to Bertil and Alicia Axelsson. She has a brother Erik and sister Liselotte. Her father was an

electronic engineer Electronics engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering which emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current ...

and was born in Sweden, and her mother is Mexican. After growing up in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, Axelsson moved to New York to pursue a career in fashion modelling. On June 3, 2022 she married civilly the German-Danish aristocrat

, thus becoming the Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, after dating for 19 years. They married religiously the following day in

Bad Berleburg Bad Berleburg (, earlier also Berleburg) is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approximately northeast of Siegen and northwest of ...

. They live at Schloss Berleburg in Germany with their four dogs. They were unable to marry earlier due to a clause in Gustav's

grandfather Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic ...

's will preventing him from inheriting family property if he partakes in an unequal marriage (meaning with a

commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...

). Nonetheless, she was treated by the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg House as his official partner and accompanied him to family events. Axelsson is good friends with

Prince Joachim of Denmark , father = Henri de Laborde de Monpezat , mother = Margrethe II of Denmark , house = Glücksburg (official) Monpezat (agnatic) , religion = Church of Denmark , occupation = Military Attaché, Royal Danish Embassy in ...

, the son of

Margrethe II of Denmark Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent femal ...

, and Joachim's second wife

Princess Marie of Denmark Princess Marie of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat, (''née'' Marie Agathe Odile Cavallier, born 6 February 1976) is a member of the Danish royal family. She is the second wife of Prince Joachim of Denmark, the younger son of Queen Margrethe II o ...

. Axelsson is godmother to their daughter Princess Athena. Axelsson married into the Danish royal family, as her husband is Danish Princess Benedikte's first child.

Career

Axelsson modeled for a number of notable magazines. She appeared in the August and September 1991 editions of the American version of ''Vogue'', shot by photographers Robert Diadul in August and Angel Morale in September. In the December 1992 edition of ''

Vogue Italia ''Vogue Italia'' is the Italian edition of ''Vogue'' magazine. Owned by Condé Nast International, it has been called the top fashion magazine in the world. It's been in publication since 1964. Name ''Vogue Italia'' was first published as ''N ...

'', she had a 10-page spread styled as

Bianca Jagger Bianca Jagger (born Blanca Pérez-Mora Macías; 2 May 1945)

, shot by German photographer Ellen von Unwerth. She appeared in ''Vogue Italia'' in later editions as well, including February 1993, again shot by von Unwerth, and in 1995. She appeared on the July 1993 cover of French magazine ''Madame Figaro'', the September 1993 cover of the German edition of ''Elle'' magazine, followed by the January/February 1994 edition of ''Vogue Patterns'' magazine. From New York, Axelsson moved to Paris, where she studied art and wrote and illustrated her first book, a picture book for children (''Nigel of Hyde Park'', 2004,

Assouline Assouline Publishing is a book publisher and luxury lifestyle company founded in 1994 by Prosper and Martine Assouline. It has published more than 1,700 titles on subjects including architecture, art, design, fashion, gastronomy, lifestyle, phot ...

). Axelsson continued in fashion with a short stint working as PA to fashion designer

John Galliano John Charles Galliano (born 28 November 1960) is a British fashion designer from Gibraltar. He was the creative director of his eponymous label John Galliano and French fashion houses Givenchy and Dior. Since 2014, Galliano has been the creat ...

. Her experiences in fashion - along with a love of

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animation, animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative List of Scooby-Doo media, media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the orig ...

and

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

- inspired her to write the ''Model Undercover'' book series. Axelsson announced the series in a 2014 article for ''The Children's Book Review'', and the book was released that year. Clare O'Beara of ''Fresh Fiction'' stated "her mystery series is a winner as far as I'm concerned."

Published works

''Nigel of Hyde Park'' series

* *

''Model Undercover'' series

* * * *

''Royal Rebel'' series

* * *

Filmography

References

External links

Official website

Carina Axelsson
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Axelsson, Carina 1968 births Living people People from Santa Cruz, California American people of Swedish descent American writers of Mexican descent American expatriates in Germany Female models from California 21st-century American novelists American women novelists 21st-century American women writers Novelists from California House of Sayn-Wittgenstein German princesses