Miss World 2003

 Miss World 2003

 

Miss World 2003, the 53rd Miss World pageant was held at Crown of Beauty Theatre, Sanya, People's Republic of China on December 6, 2003. The pageant was presented by Phil Keoghan, Amanda Byram and Angela Chow. The contestants also paid a visit to Hong Kong, Xi'an, Shanghai and Beijing. Miss World 2002, Azra Akın of Turkey crowned her successor Rosanna Davison of Ireland, the daughter of popular musician Chris de Burgh, claiming Ireland's first major beauty pageant title. 106 contestants from all over the world competed for the crown, marking at that time, the biggest edition in the pageant history. It is now the third largest edition of the pageant, tied with Miss World 2007.

Rosanna Davison - Ireland
Rosanna Diane Davison was the winner of the Miss World 2003 title. She is the daughter of musician Chris De Burgh. The song "For Rosanna" was written by her father in her honour for his 1986 album, Into the Light. Rosanna attended Rathdown School, a private, Protestant, all-girls school located in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin. She has stated that she was "just grateful (she) was brought up in a Protestant way". In 2006, she graduated from University College Dublin with a degree in Sociology and History of Art. December 2003 saw Rosanna, along with 106 other contestants, compete in the ‘Miss World’ competition in China. Rosanna went on to win the crown and is the first ‘Miss Ireland’ to win the ‘Miss World’ title. She was also chosen as the Irish representative for the Miss Hawaiian Tropic 2003 beauty pageant, but declined the offer to participate in order to concentrate on her exams. Rosanna is currently the face of ‘Holiday On Ice’, and has also been involved in two campaigns for Newbridge Silverware and Rally Ireland. Rosanna is currently signed to Assets Modelling Agency in Dublin and Storm Model Management in the UK. Rosanna and boyfirend Wesley Quirke found each other on Bebo. According to reports in the media the couple met up when Wesley contacted Rosanna via her Bebo webpage and the romance evolved from there.