Former Princess of Luxembourg appears on GCU student’s new TV show

A GCU student has created her very own TV show aimed at providing an insight into the personalities that help make up royal families around the world.

Afternoon Tea with Royalty officially launched in November last year with the former Princess of Luxembourg, Tessy Antony de Nassau, sitting down with host and GCU DPsych Health Psychology student, Penny Chukwu.

“I was born and raised in London with my family originally coming from Nigeria. My Grandad was actually a king of a community of 12,000 people in Nigeria, so I actually have royal heritage myself,” explained Penny.

“I had always wanted to embrace my royal heritage and basically woke up one morning in April last year with the random idea of creating my own show. I wanted to meet up with other members of royal families from around the world and highlight the positive impact they can have on the world through their position in power. With privilege comes a lot of influence because people really do listen to what they say, so I decided I wanted to get to know the individuals and their different views and passions.

“I think a big part of the inspiration behind it came from my own training as a psychologist and trying to have a positive impact on society.”

Penny approached the former Princess of Luxembourg through Instagram and quickly realised the idea she developed in her head was going to become something bigger.

She explained: “I must admit, I hadn’t really thought too much about the logistics. I didn’t know Tessy at all but I had looked at a lot of her stuff on social media and felt she would be the perfect first guest for my show. We had a really good conversation but I quickly realised it was all going to end up more of a professional operation when she started discussing sponsors and videographers.

“I decided to just go to a hotel near my parents in London and asked if we could film there and they were more than happy and even agreed to sponsor the show! I also managed to get a videographer that really understood the vision of the show and was the perfect fit for what I wanted.”

Once all the groundwork was complete, Penny finally got to meet the former Princess in London and record her very first episode – which has since aired on Sky and Freeview.

She said: “After initially meeting in April for a quick introduction, we eventually filmed the episode in July - it was just amazing to see it all coming together.

“I decided to start with icebreakers to make her feel comfortable and asked her about her favourite part of afternoon tea, as well as a word association game.

“We then spoke about philanthropy and the impact being part of the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg had on her charitable initiatives. She also has her own fashion brand called Human Highness which actually allowed me to mention my Doctorate at GCU and the topic of Fashion Psychology. She also spoke about her work as a trauma psychologist and how she was motivated to go into that area after her sister’s husband passed away. We also discussed politics and the importance of community.”

With episode one already proving to be a success, Penny is now hoping 2026 will bring further interview opportunities.

“I have been in contact with a few crown princes but diaries are of course very busy,” she explained.

“I’m keen to focus on a member of a royal family with military experience because this would be a good way of highlighting support for veterans. This is something I’m really passionate about because when I was working with the NHS there was such a long waiting list for people who have fought for their country.”

Penny added: “I would definitely love to have a member of the British Royal Family on one day but before that I’m keen to get a few more individuals from Europe and Africa.”

You can keep up to date with all things Afternoon Tea with Royalty on Instagram and via Penny’s very own website

By Ross Clark 

Achieved something related to your course or in your personal life? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk