Reita Faria Powell became the first Indian to win the Miss World

Miss World

The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951...

 title, in 1966. After winning the Miss Bombay crown earlier that year, she won the Eve's Weekly Miss India contest (not to be confused with the Femina Miss India competition, won that year by Yasmin Daji).

After her one year tenure, she refused modeling and films and instead concentrated on medical

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 studies. Reita Faria was a student at the Grant Medical College & Sir J. J. Group of Hospitals where she completed her M.B.B.S. degree.

She lives in Dublin, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 with her husband, endocrinologist

Endocrinology

Endocrinology is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions called hormones, the integration of developmental events such as proliferation, growth, and differentiation and the coordination of...

 David Powell, whom she married in 1971. They have two children and five grandchildren. Reita was a judge at Femina Miss India in 1998, and has come back to judge the Miss World competition on a few occasions.For instance she was a judge along with Demis Roussos at the Miss World final of 1976 held in London where Cindy Breakespeare was crowned Miss World.

Sources

• http://www.pageantopolis.com/international/world_1966.htm
• http://www.missworld.com