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Prince Michael of Kent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- "Prince Michael" redirects here. For other people named Prince Michael, see Prince Michael (disambiguation).
| Prince Michael | |
|---|---|
| Prince Michael of Kent | |
 |
|
| Official Photographic Portrait, by Anthony Crickmay | |
| Spouse | Princess Michael of Kent |
| Issue | |
| Lord Frederick Windsor Lady Gabriella Windsor |
|
| Full name | |
| Michael George Charles Franklin Windsor | |
| Titles | |
| HRH Prince Michael of Kent | |
| Royal house | House of Windsor |
| Father | Prince George, Duke of Kent |
| Mother | Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent |
| Born | 4 July 1942 Iver, Buckinghamshire |
| Baptised | 4 August 1942 |
| Occupation | Consultancy (prev. Military) |
Prince Michael of Kent (Michael George Charles Franklin Windsor; 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, 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.
Contents |
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.
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.
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
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.
| Styles of Prince Michael of Kent |
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|---|---|
| Image:Prince Michael arms.png | |
| Reference style | His Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
| Alternative style | Sir |
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.[1]
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
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.[2] 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."[3]
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.
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
- ^ 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.
- ^ Picknett, Prince, Prior & Brydon, p. 311.
- ^ http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page3956.asp
| Order of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent |
Order of precedence in England and Wales Gentlemen |
Succeeded by Rowan Williams |
| Order of precedence in Scotland | Succeeded by Lord-Lieutenant |
|
| Order of precedence in Northern Ireland | Succeeded by Robin Eames |
|
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh · HRH The Prince of Wales, Duke of Rothesay · HRH The Duke of York · HRH The Earl of Wessex
HRH Prince William of Wales · HRH Prince Henry of Wales · HRH The Duke of Gloucester · HRH The Duke of Kent · HRH Prince Michael of Kent