Kirsten Rausing was born 6th June 1952 in Lund, Sweden, to Dr Gad Rausing and Dr Birgit Rausing, nee Mayne.

Kirsten Rausing has been on the board of Tetra Laval Group since 1983.On January 1st 1996 she and her brothers, Finn and Jorn Rausing, took exclusive responsibility for the Tetra Laval Group. She is one of the most respected international horse breeders and admired for her philanthropy.

Kirsten grew up in the university town of Lund in southern Sweden. Her education commenced there, continued in France and Ireland, and is still continuing! She was the eldest daughter, and during her childhood she spent some formative and educational time with her paternal grandfather, Dr Ruben Rausing, founder of the Tetra Pak (later Tetra Laval) Group of companies, as well as with her maternal grandparents, the painter, Henry Mayne and his wife, Ester.

She inherited her grandfather's passion for animal husbandry; dairy cattle, dogs and, eventually, thoroughbred racehorses were his main interest. By 1967, Dr Ruben Rausing left Sweden to work for the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, and he asked Kirsten to take over the running of his stud farm in Sweden. She carried on managing his Simontorp Stud for 10 years, during which time winners of many Scandinavian Classic races and (more importantly) sales-topping yearlings were bred there. A point of particular pride was the fact that the stud produced winners in no less than eight countries, including Britain, Ireland, France, Italy and Hong Kong.

Kirsten left Sweden in 1977 to work for the late Captain A.D.D. ("Tim") Rogers of Airlie Stud in Ireland, initially managing his Baroda Stud at The Curragh, Co. Kildare. This stud farm, incidentally, had been developed for the last Maharadja of Baroda ("Sayajirao") in the 1930's, but had been sold to Irish interests in the 1950's. She later worked at Capt. Rogers' famous Grangewilliam Stud in Co. Kildare, home of Champion Sire HABITAT.

By 1980, Kirsten left Ireland for Newmarket, Suffolk, the original home for Thoroughbred horse racing, instituted there by Queen Anne in the 17th century. All Thoroughbred racehorses, the world over, have to have their pedigrees traced back in every generation to the General Stud Book, published by Messrs Weatherbys (secretaries to The Jockey Club) in England.

Since 1980, Lanwades Stud in Newmarket has been Kirsten's base and , with judicial planning and a very successful breeding operation, she has gradually been able to extend the stud's original 150 acres to nearly 900, divided into three completely separate units. Successful stallions standing at Lanwades under Kirsten's management include Champion Sires NINISKI, his son HERNANDO, and SELKIRK. The latter two have recently been joined by French Champion DOMEDRIVER and Canadian Horse of the Year, WITH APPROVAL.

Many hundreds of winners all over the world have been bred by Kirsten Rausing and her clients at Lanwades Stud in the last 25 years; the winners of over 160 races in 2004 - 2005 first saw the light of day there. Amongst the more notable winners bred are 1998 World Champion Filly ALBORADA, 2004 European Champion mare ALBANOVA; 1984 European Champion Two-Year-Old KALA DANCER, Group One winners PETOSKI and ARCADIAN HEIGHTS and many other Group winners.

Having started with just two employees at Lanwades, the three separate stud farms operating under this heading (Lanwades, St Simon and Staffordstown Studs) now number some 35 employees, evenly divided male/female, and representing many different nationalities. Former Lanwades students have gone on to manage top-class stud farms in Ireland, France, the USA, Poland, Germany, Australia/New Zealand and Japan.

Kirsten was elected to the Jockey Club in 1990. She sits on numerous boards. These include being Chairman of the European Federation of Thoroughbred Breeders' Associations (E.F.T.B.A), Paris, 2002 - 2005; Chairman, EFTBA Veterinary Commission, 1994 - 2004: directorships past and present: Jockey Club Estates Co. Ltd; The British Bloodstock Agency plc; The National Stud; Council Member, The Animal Health Trust; Chairman, AHT Equine Industry Committee; member, University of Cambridge/TBA Equine Fertility Unit Scientific Advisory Group; member, the Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers (S.I.T.A.) Cataloguing Standards Committee; member, The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons' Committee of Enquiry into Veterinary.