The family was middle class, with her father working in a mineral water factory and her mother running a beauty salon.

[5] Growing up, Faria, with an adult height of 5 feet 8 inches, was unusually tall for an Indian girl and made fun of by schoolboys who nicknamed her ‘mommy long legs’.

Nevertheless Faria used her tall and lean build to her advantage in sports, playing ‘everything from throwball, netball and badminton’.

She eventually went on to win the Miss World 1966 crown at the climax of the event, beating 51 competing delegates from other countries.

She married her mentor David Powell, in 1971, and in 1973, the couple shifted to Dublin, Ireland, where she started her medical practice.