Wait, Ladies of London: The New Reign’s Mark Francis is the son of an actual princess?!
This is the most Mark Francis thing ever
If you’ve started watching Ladies of London: The New Reign and found yourself instantly pulled toward Mark-Francis Vandelli’s impossibly polished one-liners, immaculate wardrobe and general air of inherited fabulousness, you are definitely not alone.
He has always given “born for a drawing room and a confessional chair” energy, but this time, people have one very specific question.
Namely, is the whole princess thing real?! Because when it comes to Bravo stars, “dramatic” is common, but “child of a literal princess” is a different level entirely. So yes, let’s get into the family backstory…
Who is Mark Francis’ mother?
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Mark-Francis’ mother is Diane Boulting-Casserley Vandelli, who has been described by Bravo as a Russian princess.
Bravo’s cast list for Ladies of London: The New Reign identifies Mark-Francis as the son of “Russian princess and model Diane Boulting-Casserley Vandelli,” while Tatler previously referred to her as “a Russian princess” and noted that she was an Yves Saint Laurent muse.
The Evening Standard also described her as his Russian mother and a society beauty linked to Saint Laurent’s orbit.
His father is Marzio Vandelli, an Italian businessman and industrialist, so the whole family background is every bit as glam and international as Mark-Francis himself makes it sound!
Does that make him royalty?
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Technically, it makes Mark-Francis the son of a princess from a historic Russian noble family, but that does not make him a working royal in the modern, official, Buckingham Palace sense.
Russia abolished estates, ranks and princely titles after the 1917 Revolution, so these titles no longer carry legal status within the Russian state.
In other words, the aristocratic lineage is real, but it is historical and familial rather than part of a current reigning monarchy.
Socially and genealogically, he comes from an aristocratic family, absolutely. Legally and politically, no, he is not a prince in the way people usually mean when they think of modern royals.
He’s not in line to a throne, he doesn’t hold a British royal title, and there’s no official royal role attached to his name. But in the reality TV universe, “son of an actual princess” is still a pretty jaw-dropping line item on the résumé!
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