Katie Boyle: Former TV personality dies aged 91

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A look back on the career of Katie Boyle

Former Eurovision Song Contest host Katie Boyle has died at her home aged 91, her agent has said.

Lady Saunders, a TV personality and game show panellist, began her 60-year career as a model before becoming an actress and a BBC continuity announcer.

She hosted Eurovision four times between 1960 and 1974 and she also hosted the Ivor Novello music awards.

She also had a radio show "Katie and Friends", on BBC Radio 2 and an agony aunt column for the TV Times magazine.

Her later life was devoted to support for animal charities and she was a committee member of Battersea Dogs Home for more than 25 years.

Fellow TV host Jonathan Ross paid tribute.

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Obituary

Katie Boyle once said that she was famous for being famous.

But her glamour and ebullience carried her through more than half a century in the public eye, especially as a regular hostess of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Her multilingual outings on these occasions reflected her glamorous but turbulent upbringing.

She was born Caterina Irene Elena Maria Imperiali de Principi di Francavilla on 29 May 1926 in a Florentine palace that had once belonged to the Italian royal family.

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