:''"Prince Michael" redirects here. For other people named Prince Michael, see
Prince Michael (disambiguation).''
'Prince Michael of Kent' (Michael George Charles Franklin; born
4 July 1942) is a member of the
British Royal Family, a grandson of
King George V and
Queen Mary.
Prince Michael of Kent does not officially carry out royal duties on behalf of his cousin,
Queen Elizabeth II, although he has represented the Queen in some functions abroad. Instead, he manages his own consultancy business, and undertakes various commercial work around the world. He has also presented some television documentaries on the royal families of Europe. He is named after
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, to whom he is related.
Early life
Prince Michael of Kent was born on
4 July 1942, at
Iver,
Buckinghamshire. His father was
The Duke of Kent, the fourth-eldest son of
George V and
Queen Mary. His mother was
The Duchess of Kent (née Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark), a daughter of
Prince Nicholas of Greece and
Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. As a grandchild of a British sovereign, he was styled as a
Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with the prefix
''His Royal Highness'', thus styled ''His Royal Highness'' 'Prince Michael of Kent'.
At his christening, on
4 August 1942, his godparents were
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then
President of the United States of America; King
George II of Greece; King
Haakon VII of Norway; Queen
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands;
Lady Patricia Ramsay;
The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven;
The Crown Princess of Greece; and
The Duke of Gloucester. His father, the Duke of Kent, was killed in an aeroplane crash near
Caithness,
Scotland on
25 August 1942, three weeks after his son's christening.
Education and military service
Educated at
Sunningdale School and
Eton College, Prince Michael entered the
Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in January
1961, where he was commissioned into the
11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own), in
1963. He saw service in
Germany,
Hong Kong, and
Cyprus, where his squadron formed part of the UN peacekeeping force of
1971. Subsequent tours of duty, during a military career that spanned twenty years, included a number of appointments on the
Defence Intelligence Staff. He retired from the army, with the rank of
Major, in
1981.
In
1994, Prince Michael was made Honorary
Commodore of the
Royal Naval Reserve and, in
2002, he was made Honorary
Air Commodore of
RAF Benson. In addition, Prince Michael is President of
SSAFA (Soldiers', Sailors' & Airmen's Families' Association) Forces Help, and of the Royal Patriotic Fund. He is also
Colonel-in-Chief of the
Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment in
Canada.
Career
Royal duties
As the third child of George V's fourth son, it was not expected that Prince Michael of Kent would undertake royal and official duties. Prince Michael has never received a
parliamentary annuity, or an allowance from the
Privy Purse. Despite this, both his elder brother,
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and his sister,
Princess Alexandra, carry out official royal duties, and receive parliamentary annuities. As a member of the Royal Family, however, the Prince does receive
VIP treatment wherever he goes. The
Foreign and Commonwealth Office arranges for the Prince to receive VIP welcomes whenever he travels abroad, and he has use of British Embassy staff when required. The Prince was also given a
grace and favour apartment at
Kensington Palace upon his marriage in
1978.
Nevertheless, Prince Michael of Kent has represented the Queen at state funerals in
India,
Cyprus and
Swaziland and, with his wife,
Princess Michael of Kent, represented the Queen at the independence celebrations in
Belize, and at the Coronation of
King Mswati III of Swaziland.
Prince Michael also supports a large number of different charities and organisations:
He is Commonwealth President of the Royal Life Saving Society, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, and Provincial Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex.
His patronages include:
★ the
Harefield Research Foundation,
★ the
Children's Fire and Burns Trust,
★
First Gear and
★ the
World Monuments Fund (UK).
★
SSAFA Forces Help,
★ the
National Eye Research Centre,
★ the
RAC Foundation,
★ the
Kennel Club
★
Brooklands Museum Trust
★ Notchlezhka
Commercial
Given that the Prince does not receive any income from his royal duties, he has the Queen's permission to earn a living from commercial enterprise. As such Prince Michael manages his own consultancy business, and undertakes business throughout the world. He is also a qualified
interpreter of
Russian.
Marriage
On
30 June 1978, Prince Michael was married, at a civil ceremony, at the Rathaus,
Vienna, Austria, to
Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, the only child of the
Silesian nobleman Baron Gunther Hubertus von Reibnitz, and his
Hungarian-born wife, Maria Anna Carolina Franziska Walpurga Bernadette, Countess Szapáry de Muraszombath, Széchysziget et Szapár.
The Kents' marriage was controversial because the Baroness was not only a
Roman Catholic, but also a divorcée. She was previously married to banker
Thomas Troubridge; they separated in 1973, divorced in 1977, and had their marriage annulled by the Roman Catholic Church a year later, two months before her marriage to Prince Michael. Under the terms of the
Act of Settlement 1701, which governs the laws of the
succession to the British throne, Prince Michael forfeited his place in the line of succession through marriage to a Roman Catholic.
[2]
However, his wife became, and remains, a Princess of the United Kingdom, and is styled 'Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent' (not ''Princess Marie-Christine'', since she is not a princess in her own right, but only by right of marriage). Prince and Princess Michael of Kent have two children, both of whom remain in line to the throne because they are not Roman Catholics, having been raised as members of the
Church of England:
★
Lord Frederick Windsor, born
6 April 1979
★
Lady Gabriella Windsor, born
23 April 1981
Controversy
Arms of Prince Michael of Kent
Both Prince and Princess Michael of Kent have received negative news stories in the media in the past. These have centred on accusations that the couple exploit their royal status for commercial gain. When it was claimed that the couple pay a rent of only £69 per week (although other sources state the figure as £76) for the use of their apartments at Kensington Palace, a committee of
MPs demanded they be evicted.
[3] The British Monarchy Media Centre, however, refutes these controversial reports and states that, "The Queen is paying the rent for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's apartment at a commercial rate of £120,000 annually from her own private funds. [...] This rent payment by The Queen is in recognition of the Royal engagements and work for various charities which Prince and Princess Michael of Kent have undertaken at their own expense, and without any public funding."
[4]
Russia
Prince Michael has a strong interest in Russia, and is noted for his remarkable physical resemblance to Tsar
Nicholas II. When the Tsar and his family were re-buried in Russia, it was Prince Michael who represented Britain. Prince Michael speaks fluent Russian, and holidays there frequently. In the novel
Icon, by
Frederick Forsyth, the Monarchy in Russia is restored, with Prince and Princess Michael as Tsar and Tsarina.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Title
★ '
4 July 1942-': ''His Royal Highness'' Prince Michael of Kent
Honours
★ 'KCVO':
Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, ''
4 July 1992''
★
★ 'GCVO':
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, ''
2 June 2003''
Honorary military appointments
'British'
★ Honorary Rear Admiral, of the
Royal Naval Reserve
★
Commodore-in-Chief, of the Maritime Reserves
'Commonwealth'
★ Colonel-in-Chief, of
The Essex and Kent Scottish
Arms
Prince Michael's personal coat of arms are the
Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, with a five point label- the standard differentiation for a male-line grandchild of a British monarch. The first, third and fifth points bear a red cross, and the second and fourth points bear a blue anchor.
Ancestry
See also
★
List of British princes
References
1. As a titled royal, Michael holds no surname, but, when one ''is'' used, it is 'Windsor'
2. Picknett, Lynn, Prince, Clive, Prior, Stephen & Brydon, Robert (2002). ''War of the Windsors: A Century of Unconstitutional Monarchy'', p. 271. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1-84018-631-3.
3. Picknett, Prince, Prior & Brydon, p. 311.
4. http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page3956.asp
External links
★
Royal.gov.uk Prince and Princess Michael of Kent
★
Prince Michael of Kent's homepage
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Order of precedence in Northern Ireland
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