Victoria Reggie Kennedy
Victoria Anne Kennedy (née Reggie; born February 26, 1954)[1] is an American diplomat, attorney, and activist who presently serves as the United States Ambassador to Austria since 2022. She is the widow and the second wife of longtime U.S. senator Ted Kennedy.
Victoria Reggie Kennedy
A member of the Kennedy family through her late husband, Kennedy was born in Louisiana and became a practicing attorney after attending Tulane University Law School. As a partner at Keck, Mahin & Cate, she specialized in financial law. She was appointed as ambassador by President Joe Biden in 2021 and confirmed unanimously by the US Senate. She is a sister-in-law to former president John F. Kennedy and former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
Early life and education[edit]
The second of six children, Victoria Anne Reggie was born in Crowley in Acadia Parish in southwestern Louisiana. Her father, Edmund Reggie, was a Louisiana judge and banker, and her mother, Doris Ann Boustany, was a Democratic National committeewoman.[2][3] Reggie is of Lebanese descent, as all of her grandparents were Maronites from Lebanon who immigrated to the United States and later settled to Louisiana.[4] Reggie's grandparents became important members of the local Roman Catholic church, and later their children became involved in business and politics. Her brother is Denis Reggie, a photographer who popularized the genre of wedding photojournalism.
Reggie's immediate family was wealthy because of money from her maternal family's interest in the Bunny Bread baking concern in New Orleans.[5] She was raised in a family that was constantly involved in politics and campaigns. At the 1956 Democratic National Convention, her father helped deliver his state for John F. Kennedy's unsuccessful bid for the vice-presidential nomination. Over time, John Kennedy developed a close social relationship with the Reggies.[6] Her mother cast the only Louisiana delegate vote for Ted Kennedy at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.[7]
Victoria Reggie attended parochial schools growing up and was a straight-A student. She attended Newcomb College at Tulane University in New Orleans, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English, magna cum laude,[8] was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was president of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.[5] She then received her Juris Doctor degree, summa cum laude in 1979 from Tulane University Law School. There she was a member of the Tulane Law Review. Her education at Tulane, along with twenty years of other Tulane tuition for her brothers and sisters, was paid for by scholarships awarded by a political ally of her father.[9][10]