AT PEACE IN PARADISE

Former Miss World Anneline Kriel tells YOU about her happy life in Mauritius with her husband and their fur babies

- JODY-LYNN TAYLOR

LOOK carefully and you might spot a grey strand or two in her long blonde locks, but there’s still that megawatt smile, still those twinkling eyes.

If you didn’t know she was crowned Miss World in 1974 when she was an 18-year-old drama student, you’d never guess she’s 65.

“There isn’t really a secret to it,” she says of her good looks. “I just try to live my best life.

“I think my greatest privilege is that I’m happy with my life and my environment and I feel completely at peace with myself. I think as you get older, you tend to appreciate what you have, rather than comparing yourself to others.”

Of course, it must help that she lives in Mauritius, a little slice of tropical paradise in the Indian Ocean.

Anneline Kriel and her husband, businessman Peter Bacon (74) – who she’s been married to for 25 years – moved to these sun-kissed shores a decade ago.

We’re catching up with Anneline via video chat from her home and it’s clear she doesn’t take her surroundings for granted.

She loves the natural beauty, the white sandy beaches, crystal-clear waters and the morning breeze as the birds chirp in the background, she says.

Anneline hadn’t imagined she’d be living there someday. Her first visit to Mauritius was in the late 1970s when she was married to husband No 1, the late hotel magnate Sol Kerzner, and she fell in love with the island instantly.

Peter, whom she married in 1996, had been a regular visitor to the island due to his own career in the hotel business.

“It’s always been a dream of ours to live here someday,” Anneline says.