Early Life
Though born in New York City, Oxenberg grew up in London. She is the eldest daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia (b.1936) and her first husband Howard Oxenberg (1919–2010), a Jewish dress manufacturer and close friend of the Kennedy family. Princess Elizabeth is the only daughter of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia (who served as regent for his cousin's eldest son King Peter II of Yugoslavia) and Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark. Elizabeth is a first cousin of the current Duke of Kent and also a second cousin of Queen Sofía of Spain and Charles, Prince of Wales, making Catherine a third cousin of Felipe, Prince of Asturias and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. Catherine is also a great-great-great-granddaughter of Karađorđe, who started the First Serbian Uprising against the Turks in 1804.
Catherine Oxenberg's maternal grandmother Princess Olga was the daughter of Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia and Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, himself the son of another Romanov grand duchess, Queen Olga Konstantinovna of the Hellenes and her Danish-born husband King George of Greece, brother of Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom and Empress Maria Fyodorovna. Princess Olga was the sister of Princess Marina, who married the Duke of Kent (uncle of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom); and also a first cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh (husband of Queen Elizabeth II) through their respective fathers Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark who were brothers.
Oxenberg was educated at St. Paul's School, Harvard University and Columbia University.
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