Princess Niké Arrighi Borghese, 1944 – 2025

Actress, artist, and model Princess Niké Arrighi Borghese, 80, died on Feb. 12. Daughter of Count Ernesto Arrighi and Australian ballerina Eleanora Douglas Cox, Niké Arrighi (her professional name) was born in Nice and grew up in Sydney. She got her professional start as a model, while attending RADA in London. She was a busy actress in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, appearing in such films and TV shows as The Prisoner, The Saint, Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River, Merry-Go-Round, It Takes a Thief, Sunday Bloody Sunday, The Devils, and Day for Night. Leaving acting, she took up artwork, mostly copperplate etchings and oil paintings (she won First Prize for Graphic Art at the 1976 Hong Kong Art Biennial). Arrighi married Prince Paolo Borghese in 1977 (he died in 1999), and lived at the at Palazzo Borghese near Rome till her death. Among the princess’s survivors is her sister, Oscar-winning production designer Luciana Arrighi.