Rachel Sophia Adina Christie (born c. 24 July 1988) is a British

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

contestant, model and

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

who was briefly

Miss England Miss England is a national beauty pageant in England. History The contest, title owned by the Miss World organisation is organised each year by Angie Beasley, a winner of 25 beauty contests in the 1980s and has organised beauty pageants ar ...

2009, and the first black woman to hold the title. In 2015, she returned to the public eye, having appeared on '' Love Island''. Her stint was short-lived, and she was eliminated in .

Personal life

Christie is the niece of former

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

sprint champion

Linford Christie Linford Cicero Christie (born 2 April 1960) is a Jamaican-born British former sprinter. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games, the World ...

, who, along with

Ron Roddan Ron Roddan (8 May 1931 – 10 February 2023) was a British athletics coach. He was best known for coaching British sprinter Linford Christie, whom he began coaching in 1979. A former Civil Service (United Kingdom), Civil Service laboratory assista ...

, serves as her coach. She was born to Russell Christie, Linford's brother, who was killed as part of a drug war at the age of 34, when Rachel was 8. She became the first black winner of

in 2009. She was mentored by

Caprice Caprice, from the Italian ''capriccio'', may refer to: Art and entertainment * ''Caprice'' (1913 film), a film starring Mary Pickford * ''Caprices'' (film), a 1942 French comedy film * ''Caprice'' (1967 film), a film starring Richard Harris ...

and was invited by

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She began her career at the age of 15, and established herself amongst the most recognisable and in-demand models of the past four decades. Cam ...

to walk in her Fashion for Relief Haiti catwalk show to raise funds for

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

. In June 2015, she was announced in the line up for the revived reality show '' Love Island'' appearing on the show for two weeks.

Relinquishing of Miss England crown

In the early hours of 2 November 2009, Christie was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Miss Manchester, Sara Beverley Jones, at a Manchester nightclub. There was an altercation with Jones which was caught on CCTV.

Greater Manchester Police Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England. , Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...

had agreed Christie hadn't committed any crime and was released without charge or caution. Upon her exit from the police station, news of the alleged fight had already made headlines and the speculation intensified and Christie subsequently announced her withdrawal from the Miss World competition. She then relinquished her Miss England crown. The crown was passed on to the runner-up in the 2009 pageant,

Katrina Hodge Katrina Hodge (born 29 March 1987) is a former member of the British Army from Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent in south-east England who was handed the Miss England 2009 title after Rachel Christie stepped down. Biography Born and raised in Tunbridge ...

References

External links

Miss England, Rachel Christie, tells her story
The Sunday Times. Published 22 November 2009. Accessed 15 August 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Christie, Rachel 1988 births Living people Miss England winners Black British fashion people People from Kensington British people of Jamaican descent Love Island (2015 TV series) contestants Models from London