The princesses of today are not like those who preceded them. Now modern women of their time, some female royals are increasing their global presence by using social networking sites. One such princess is Marie-Chantal of Greece, whose frequent Instagram posts are a delight for her fans. And like most users of the photo sharing programme, Marie-Chantal enjoys uploading images of her family, her friends, pets, and celebrations.
The London-born princess is not the only royal to use modern technology, with Queen Rania of Jordan and Princess Mette-Marit of Norway using accounts such as Twitter to show support for initiatives promoted by their organisations. She is by far the most prominent at posting personal photographs. Marie-Chantal's online account tells of the fun she enjoys with husband Prince Pavlos and their five children: Maria Olympia, 16, Konstantinos Alexios, 14, Achilleas Andreas 12, Odysseas Kimon, 8 and four-year-old Aristides Stavros. Aristides features in a large number of the images, often posing with the family's pets or sporting outfits from his mother's clothing label. And to prove they are like any family, Marie-Chantal has even posted a photo of the youngster throwing a tantrum to avoid going to school.
Other events documented by the 44-year-old include skiing holidays, birthdays, national holidays and even a trip to the Olympic Games last summer. During England's recent snowy weather Marie-Chantal couldn't resist taking a snapshot of her garden, transformed into a winter wonderland, as well as photo of young Aristides with a snowball. And she may be a princess but Marie-Chantal's photos also prove her sense of humour. In one picture she she can be seen poking her tongue out whilst holding a huge bottle of spicy condiment - Tabasco sauce. In another image the princess is seen wearign an unflattering pair of glasses and holding a kitchen knife and an onion, with the caption "my onion glasses..."
Family is very important to Marie-Chantal who has two sisters: Pia-Christina and Alexandra-Natasha. Pia-Christina was married to Christopher Getty, whose family who made their name in oil, whilst Alexandra-Natasha married Prince Alexander von Furstenberg in 1995. Although sadly both sisters are now divorced.The trio, who are sometimes known as the Miller sisters, were raised across Hong Kong, Switzerland, Paris and New York.When she's not spending time on the social site Marie-Chantal can also be found at work. The princess designs her own range of luxury children's clothing and accessories for a company which bears her name. Businesswoman Marie-Chantal founded the brand in 2000, the year her third child was born. Always interested in art and design, Marie-Chantel studied art history at New York University, although she left without completing the degree when Pavlos proposed on a Christmas skiing trip to Switzerland.The wedding took place at St Sophia's church in London drawing in numerous royals from around the world. A week before they attended Marie-Chantal and Pavlos' nuptials, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh hosted a tea party for the couple at Claridge's hotel in Mayfair.