The spacious Uptown living room was quiet — so still that a black Lab named Evie dozed on the cool marble floor as sunlight streamed through floor-to-ceiling windows.
Then Kelsey Grace French walked in, picture-perfect in a powder-blue suit and sparkly mauve pumps, and things suddenly started happening.
People materialized. A makeup artist dabbed at the young woman’s cheeks with a brush, and an aide walked around, passing out glasses of ice water. French’s mother, Kara Van de Carr, put down a platter of snacks to fuss with her daughter’s light-brown hair while a photographer set up lights and a backdrop. Evie roamed the room, yearning for attention that wasn’t being lavished on French.
“Usually, I don’t really like a lot of attention,” French said as the rush subsided, “but it’s been fun, and I’m starting to like it more.”
That attitude probably is healthy because, in addition to being a debutante who has been flying home frequently from college in Texas to attend parties and balls, French, 21, has been getting ready — way below radar, of course — to be Rex’s consort, the queen of Carnival, on Tuesday. Preparation for that regal role has entailed, among other things, fittings, rehearsals and lessons on how to process around a ballroom and flourish a scepter while flashing an ear-to-ear smile.
That last part is easy, she said. “My friends tell me that I’m the smiliest person that they know.”
A graduate of the Isidore Newman School, where she was a distance runner, Kelsey French is a junior finance major at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, and has spent summers at the American University in Paris and the London School of Economics. She was an intern last summer at KBW, an investment-banking firm in New York City, and she plans to return there this summer.
She also has been a volunteer at Eden Centers for Hope and Healing, a nonprofit organization her mother founded for survivors of human trafficking.
French is the latest member of her family to receive a crown from the Rex organization. The family already boasts five kings, starting in 1889 and running through 2007, when her grandfather, Dr. Ronald J. French, reigned. His wife, Flora Fenner French, was queen of Carnival in 1959.
“It’s so fun that I get to be part of this,” Kelsey French said. “I’m so honored.”
The queen’s father, Will French, is the Rex organization’s historian. He’s also a lieutenant, which means that on Tuesday, he’ll be on horseback, swathed in green, watching Rex and his daughter toast each other.
“It’ll be a great moment,” Will French said.
Kelsey French’s path to the throne began last March, when her father led her into an upstairs room at the New Orleans Country Club. A Rex official was waiting there to read her a poem that ended with the announcement that she had been picked to be the 2026 queen of Carnival. Ronald and Flora French were there, too.
“I was in shock and disbelief,” Kelsey French said. “I didn’t think it was real until I looked over and my grandmother was crying. I thought, oh, my gosh.”
Despite signs indicating that her granddaughter was a likely queen, Flora French said the moment caught her by surprise.
“I thought I was going to collapse on the floor. I had no idea that was coming,” she said. “At Mardi Gras, you never expect anything. That way, you’re never disappointed.”
Since then, she has been helping her granddaughter prepare for her big day. “She keeps telling me that I need to have fun and be myself, and it’s going to be the best time and that I’m going to be telling my grandchildren about, just like she is,” Kelsey French said.
Her grandmother is giving her something tangible, too: On the night of the ball, she’ll be wearing the earrings and necklace that her grandmother wore in 1959. The necklace has been gold-plated, and lilies have been added, in keeping with this year’s parade theme, “Rebirth and Renewal.”
That’s not the only gift Flora French has bestowed in anticipation of this year’s celebration. On the afternoon of Kelsey French’s interview, Van de Carr wore a charm bracelet made of golden Rex doubloons that Flora French had collected over the years, and she jangled them happily.
Although Van de Carr didn’t grow up in the Carnival culture, she has adopted this feature of the annual celebration: ironclad secrecy about her daughter’s upcoming reign. A native of San Francisco who holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and two law schools, Van de Carr has had no trouble conforming to this rule.
“I’m a former diplomat, and I had a top-secret clearance,” said Van de Carr, who was posted in Washington, D.C., and Jamaica. “I couldn’t even tell my family a lot of what I had learned, so (keeping secrets) wasn’t as hard as you might think.”
Keeping Mardi Gras secrets from inquisitive friends was tough for her daughter — at first. “I’m the worst liar ever,” Kelsey French said.
But for now, her focus is on Fat Tuesday. “I just hope that I get to bring people some of the joy that I’m experiencing,” she said, “and I’m hoping they’re as excited about Mardi Gras as my family is and I am.”