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Julia Rachel Kuehnle is this year’s Natchez Garden Club queen. She is the daughter of Nancy and Bruce Kuehnle Jr. (Courtesy of Abagail McCary Washington)

Julia Rachel Kuehnle, right, with her grandparents Dr. Bruce Kuehnle Sr. and Julia Benoist Kuehnle, for whom she is named. (Submitted)

Julia Rachel Kuehnle, bottom left, poses with her grandmother Dottie Biglane, cousin Joanna Biglane McNeel who was queen in 2003, grandfather Noland Biglane and cousin Lauren Biglane Middleton. (Submitted)

Julia Rachel Kuehnle, right, with her parents Nancy and Bruce Kuehnle Jr. in 2003. (Submitted)

Julia Rachel Kuehnle, right, and Lansing Brakenridge in their Big Maypole dresses. Brakenridge is this year’s PGC queen. (Submitted)

by Sabrina Simms

NATCHEZ — Royal blood runs through Julia Rachel Kuehnle’s veins.

Kuehnle said she is honored to be the Natchez Garden Club’s 2018 Queen of Spring Pilgrimage.

Kuehnle said she has been heavily involved with Pilgrimage for most of her life. She began volunteering with the tableaux when she was 3 years old in the Little Maypole.

“I was very involved from a young age,” Kuehnle said. “I was page in 2003 to my cousin Joanna (Biglane). … All through high school I did two to three tableaux’s every year. I’ve always loved it, and this is the greatest honor to be able to be in this large role.”

Kuehnle is named after her grandmother Julia Benoist Kuehnle, who was NGC queen in 1938 — exactly 80 years before her granddaughter — in NGC’s second annual royal court.

“This is really special to me because it’s something that I get to share with her. She passed away when I was 6 years old. It’s just really special to have this experience with her in a way.”

Her grandmother is not the only family member of Kuehnle that shared a place on the NGC court. Her cousin Pepper Taylor was NGC’s tricentennial queen in 2016. Kuehnle’s cousin, Biglane, is passing her scepter to Kuehnle for her reign.

Kuehnle said she would be wearing her grandmother’s necklace to the tableaux in her memory.

Her dress is borrowed and altered from Margaret Perkins’ reign as the Pilgrimage Garden Club’s queen in 1978.

The top of Kuehnle’s gown has been altered slightly since Kalin Kirkwood wore it 2010.

The gown is silk-faced satin and jewel encrusted and embroidered French Chantilly lace. The beading follows a rose design in the lace that flows from the middle and front of the skirt and around in varying heights. The gown is adorned with pearls, crystals and iridescent beads. The jeweled bodice has a portrait neckline and the puffed sleeve Basque of 1860s fashion.

“I’m so excited to be wearing Margaret’s dress,” Kuehnle said. “I like to wear the things that mean something to me. I’ve borrowed a lot of things. I’ve always been the person that keeps every single birthday card. Why not have my reign be the same way? It would have been silly to be any different about this than anything else.”

Kuehnle said she purchased her crown from The Towers Collection on Franklin Street. She said NGC club member Ginger Hyland helped her with her selection.

“It’s actually a replica of the girls of Ireland and Britain crown — that’s the crown jewel.”

Kuehnle is the daughter of Nancy and Bruce Kuehnle Jr.

She graduated from Cathedral High School in 2015 and is a junior at Mississippi State University. Her major is business administration, and she is minoring in pre-law.

“I just want to be able to help people,” Kuehnle said.

She enjoys music, hunting, dancing and being involved at MSU. She is in the Delta Gamma Sorority and serves as a senator in the Student Government Association.

Kuehnle said she never dreamed of being NGC’s Spring Pilgrimage Queen but considers it a huge honor.

“I’ve always looked up to the queens, but honestly this is just a huge honor,” Kuehnle said.

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