Jessica Craig
Simply for the fun of it, I decided to read an old thread in the Prince William & Prince Harry subforum. You know the old threads? The ones either long closed or long forgotten on the last pages of any given forum? One such thread is the long-closed Jessica Craig thread. I always liked Jessica, or whatever I can like about her only from pictures and tabloid articles.
The thread is only four pages thick and it was fun to read people's thoughts about her, with the oldest posts dating back to 2003, and the newest being from 2006. What is lacking from that thread is information about Jessica. I suppose we were all a bit preoccupied by her natural beauty (pictures) and squabbling over differences of opinion (you know typical TRF banter!)
Jessica, a/k/a Jecca, is the daughter of Ian and Jane Craig.
Her dad owns the 45,000-acre Lewa Downs wildlife conservancy in Kenya. Lewa Downs is situated approximately four hours north of Kenya's capital city, Nairobi. The Craig family has been settled at Lewa Downs from 1924. The Ngare Ndate River runs through the estate. You can see the snow-topped Mount Kenya on the horizon. The expensive Il Ngwesi Lodge Resort, run by the Masai Tribe, is nearby, and it is said that Prince William prefers to use Il Ngwesi, although the estate its own six thatched cottages, called "bandas," for safari guests. Maybe he doesn't like that the Lewa Downs cottages have outhouses, for both showers and toilets!
It is where Prince William spent part of his gap year in 2000 and he and Jessica allegedly had a "pretend engagement".
Jessica's father is believed to have inspired Prince William's budding interest in conservation.
Lewa Downs is a natural habitat reserve for lions, zebra, rhinos, elephants, and giraffe.
In June 2003, Clarence House took the unusual step of denying that Jessica Craig was Prince William's girlfriend after Jessica reemerged in the tabloid headlines by appearing at Prince William's 21st birthday party.
April 2004: It was reported that Jessica was sharing a Notting Hill flat with Kinvara Balfour, niece of the Duke of Norfolk. At the time, Jessica's boyfriend was rumored to be Old Etonian Henry Ropner, then a geography student at Edinburgh University.
Jessica attend both of the van Cutsem weddings, respectively in November 2004 and June 2005. She was noted to be 22 years old at the time of Edward van Cutsem's marriage to Lady Tamara Grosvenor. Her attendance at Hugh van Cutsem's marriage to Rose Astor was followed a month later (in July 2005) by Prince William and Kate Middleton, and a pack of other friends, spending a month at Il Ngwesi Lodge Resort.
January 2006: Prince William became Patron of The Tusk Trust, a conservation charity and sometime support for Lewa Downs. Jessica has been known to do volunteer work and her part with fundraisers for the Tusk Trust, apparently.
June 2007: Ian Craig was involved in a legal case with Il Ngwesi Lodge when an elephant from Lewa Downs trampled on an Il Ngwesi guest. The trampled woman sued both Lewa Downs and Il Ngwesi.
Sources
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Welcome to Lewa Wildlife Conservancy Online
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Wills in the wilderness - with Kate AND Jecca | the Daily Mail
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Why was William's Jecca smuggled into the wedding? | the Daily Mail
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Timeline: the royal relationship | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
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Scotsman.com News - International - Kenya landowner and luxury lodge share blame for tourist's goring by elephant
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The girl who 'hid' Jecca for William | the Mail on Sunday