A recent Northern Kentucky University alum is now royalty. Kathleen de Hapsbourg-Lorraine (formerly Kathleen Walker), a 2008 graduate, married His Imperial and Royal Highness Imre of Hapsbourg-Lorraine on Sept. 8 in Washington, D.C.

While at NKU, Kathleen studied journalism, and founded the campus group Northern Right to Life. According to Daniel Curtin, a math professor and the NRTL adviser, Kathleen was the president of NRTL for four or five years.

While never having her in class, Curtin said that the thing that stood out most about her was her effective leadership. The controversial group has met campus opposition several times since 2006, when former professor Sally Jacobsen and her students vandalized one of the group’s displays.

Curtin said when this happened, the students of the group responded appropriately because of Kathleen. “It was her calm leadership that helped to defuse the situation,” he said.

Since graduating, Kathleen has been very active in pro-life organizations in Washington, D.C. In her most recent position, she served as the Director of Communication for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington.

The couple met at St. Mary Mother of God Church (the same church in which they were married) in 2010 at a mass dedicated to Imre’s great-grandfather, the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, Blessed Karl von Hapsbourg. The week before, the church had just dedicated a shrine to von Hapsbourg.

Kathleen is now officially titled Her Imperial and Royal Highness Archduchess Kathleen of Austria.