This photo provided by Mattel Inc., shows a Venus Williams Barbie Doll. Barbie dolls will honour tennis champion Venus Williams and eight other athletes as part of a project announced by Mattel on May 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Barbie dolls will honour tennis champion Venus Williams and eight other athletes as part of a project announced by Mattel on May 22.

The others being depicted as dolls are gymnasts Rebeca Andrade and Alexa Moreno, soccer players Mary Fowler and Christine Sinclair, boxer Estelle Mossely, swimmer Federica Pellegrini, paratriathlete Susana Rodriguez and track and field sprinter Ewa Swoboda.

“Throughout my career, I’ve always been driven by the idea of shattering glass ceilings and staying true to myself, and Barbie’s mission couldn’t resonate more deeply with that ethos,” said Williams, who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles.

The brand wanted to note “the impact of sports in fostering self-confidence, ambition, and empowerment among the next generation,” Mattel’s Krista Berger said.

London:

Barbie may not have won at the Oscars, but she made a new friend Tuesday: Queen Camilla, who was immortalised as one of the iconic dolls.

“You’ve taken about 50 years off (me)… we should all have a Barbie,” the queen joked as she was presented with the doll modelled closely on her own image.

Camilla, 76, whose cancer-stricken husband King Charles III has currently stepped back from royal duties, was presented with the gift in recognition of her work as president of the Women of the World (WOW) Foundation.

She was joined by Mathilde, Queen of Belgium and actor Helen Mirren, the narrator of last year’s blockbuster “Barbie” starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.

The film, released last year, has been a box office success but missed out on all but one of the nine Oscars it was nominated for at last week’s Academy Awards.

Mirren, 78, won her own best actress Oscar in 2007 for “The Queen” in which she played the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Last week she also received her own Barbie doll, dressed just like her and complete with a tiny Oscar statuette.

Camilla’s doll was dressed in a scaled down version of the her outfit — a blue Fiona Clare dress, black cape by Amanda Wakeley and Eliot Zed black boots.

It was presented to her on board the WOW Girls Festival Bus which has toured the country promoting gender equality and made a final stop at the royal family’s Buckingham Palace residence in central London.

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