Lady Gabriella Windsor’s former partner Aatish Taseer has reignited controversy by revisiting past claims involving the British Royal Family. Speaking on the Tell Me About Your Father podcast, the British-American writer once again alleged that Princess Michael of Kent, mother of Lady Gabriella, once owned two black sheep named Venus and Serena—a reference to tennis legends the Williams sisters.
The comment originally surfaced in 2018, when Taseer published an explosive piece in Vanity Fair detailing his early-2000s romance with Lady Gabriella Windsor.
The two met while studying at Brown and Amherst College, and dated for three years. In that article, he first claimed that Princess Michael kept the sheep at her Gloucestershire residence, sparking a media stir.
Reflecting on that time during the podcast, Taseer said he was “extremely indiscreet”, but added that in the UK, “there is really no crime you can commit greater than that.” He also admitted that his post-breakup closeness with Princess Michael may have intensified the fallout.
He reiterated the original anecdote, saying, “The English, it’s wild like that because the upper classes are so, they live at such a tremendous remove from the country.” Taseer further remarked on the cultural distance within royal circles, referencing King Charles by claiming, “[He] has a friend called Sooty. Yeah. Like, just a close friend.”
Taseer said the Venus and Serena story highlighted “that kind of weird air of abstraction that exists around these people and how they’re not even aware of how shocking or offensive that might be.”
Speaking about his former relationship with Lady Gabriella, he noted it was “purely romantic” and lacked a deeper friendship. Yet, he maintained a close bond with Princess Michael, stating, “I was very, very close to Ella’s mother… whom I always think of as a kind of gay icon.”
Born in the UK and raised in India, Taseer is currently preparing to publish a novel inspired by his time around the Royal Family—potentially revisiting the intersection of race, class, and privilege at the heart of royal life.