Anneline Kriel

Anneline Kriel (born 28 July 1955) is a South African actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss South Africa 1974 and was later crowned Miss World 1974. She is the second of three South African women to hold the Miss World title after Penelope Coelen in 1958 and before Rolene Strauss in 2014. In South Africa she achieved "icon" status where she became known as a "Princess Diana" figure and also appeared in several local film and television projects such as Kill and Kill Again in 1981. She was also in a high-profile marriage (1980-1985) with the late South African hotelier, Sol Kerzner. Kriel was born in Pretoria to an Afrikaner family and raised in the mining town of Witbank, the daughter of a prison officer. Kriel and her two siblings completed their education at Hoërskool Generaal Hertzog.[citation needed] As a student, Kriel lived in Huis Asterhof (formerly Vergeet-my-nie) while studying drama at the University of Pretoria.[citation needed] While at university, she was crowned the Rag Queen and won the Miss Northern Transvaal pageant.[citation needed] During this time, Kriel appeared in the film "Somer" and an Afrikaans television drama entitled "Storieboekmoord."[citation needed] In 1974, at age 19, Kriel won the Miss South Africa beauty pageant. She was awarded the Miss World title that same year, after initially being the first runner-up, as Helen Morgan was disqualified for being an unmarried mother. There was controversy that Kriel was crowned, amid condemnation of apartheid in South Africa. Singer and contest judge, Shirley Bassey, protested against Kriel's crowning. She was coached to avoid answering political questions about her country. She later admitted that she had been raised in a sheltered environment with censored press and scant knowledge of life in South Africa's black townships; “I was 19. I was very innocent. When I finally went to America they asked me on TV if I thought everyone in my country was happy - and I said yes, I did think everyone was happy. Because I did think that.” The tour was also challenging as Kriel was not fluent in English at the time, and had to translate everything in Afrikaans and then back to English in her responses.