Prince Michael of Kent

Prince Michael of Kent, GCVO CD (Michael George Charles Franklin; born 4 July 1942) is a paternal first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, being a grandson of King George V and Queen Mary. Prince Michael occasionally represents the Queen at some functions in Commonwealth realms outside the United Kingdom. Otherwise, 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, the younger brother of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and a first cousin of three of Michael's grandparents.

Prince Michael was born on 4 July 1942, at Coppins, Iver, Buckinghamshire. His father was the Duke of Kent, fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary, and was killed in a plane crash near Caithness, Scotland, on 25 August 1942, just seven weeks and three days after his third child was born. At the time of his birth Prince Michael was seventh in the line of succession to his uncle, King George VI.

His mother was Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, Duchess of Kent, a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and of Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. (The Duchess of Kent's parents were second cousins to one another, being that Nicholas' mother Olga Constantinovna of Russia and Elena's father Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia were first cousins through the line of Nicholas I of Russia.)

At his christening on 4 August 1942 in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle, his godparents were: his paternal uncle the King; the Queen of the Netherlands (for whom her son-in-law Prince Bernhard stood proxy); the King of Norway (his great-uncle); US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (for whom the Duke of Kent stood proxy); the Hereditary Princess of Greece (who was not present), the wife of Paul of Greece, his first cousin-once-removed; the Duke of Gloucester (his paternal uncle, who was absent); the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (his grandfather King George V's paternal first cousin); and Lady Patricia Ramsay (his grandfather King George V's paternal first cousin). Because of the war, newspaper reports did not identify the location of the christening and said instead that it took place at "a private chapel in the country."

At the age of five, Prince Michael was a page boy at the wedding of his cousins, Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.

Eton College

Educated at Sunningdale School and Eton College, Prince Michael entered the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in January 1961, from 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 a United Nations peacekeeping force in 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 (later Honorary Rear Admiral) of the Royal Naval Reserve, and in 2002 he was made Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Benson (promoted to Honorary Air Marshal in 2012). From 2009 to 2012 he was Regimental Colonel of the Honourable Artillery Company and has been, since 31 January 2012, Royal Honorary Colonel of that regiment. He is also Colonel-in-Chief of the Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment in Canada.

Prince Michael of Kent in 2008

As the third child of George V's fourth son, it was not expected that Prince Michael, as the only second son in the extended royal family, would undertake many engagements on behalf of the royal family. He has performed official duties in the Commonwealth realms other than the United Kingdom and has represented the Queen abroad.

He has, however, never received a parliamentary annuity or an allowance from the British Privy Purse, unlike both his elder brother, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and his sister, Princess Alexandra, who both carry out official royal duties in the United Kingdom and receive British parliamentary annuities. The Prince was given a grace and favour apartment at Kensington Palace upon his marriage in 1978.

Prince Michael 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 supports a large number of charities and organisations.

Commercial

Prince Michael manages his own consultancy business, and undertakes business throughout the world. He is also a qualified interpreter of Russian.

Masonic

Prince Michael is an active Freemason. He is the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, and Provincial Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex.

Prince Michael, photographed by Allan Warren.

Combined coat of arms of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent

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 of his Hungarian-born wife, Maria Anna Carolina Franziska Walpurga Bernadette, Countess Szapáry de Muraszombath, Széchysziget et Szapár.

At the time of the marriage, Marie Christine von Reibnitz was not only a Roman Catholic, but also a divorcée. She had previously been married to the 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, Prince Michael forfeited his place in the line of succession to the throne through his marriage to a Roman Catholic. He was reinstated to the line of succession on 26 March 2015 with the coming into force of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, and is now 45th in line to the throne.

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent have two children, both of whom remain in the line of succession to the throne because they are not Roman Catholics, having been brought up as members of the Church of England:

• Lord Frederick Windsor, born 6 April 1979; married, 12 September 2009, Sophie Winkleman, and is 46th in the line of succession as of early 2015. Educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford. Now with JP Morgan in Los Angeles. Нis daughters Maud and Isabella are 47th and 48th in line as of early 2016.
• Lady Gabriella Windsor, born 23 April 1981; and 49th in the line of succession. Educated at Downe House, Brown University in the US, and Linacre College, Oxford.

• Picknett, Lynn, Prince, Clive, Prior, Stephen & Brydon, Robert, War of the Windsors: A Century of Unconstitutional Monarchy (2002), p. 271. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1-84018-631-3.

Prince Michael of Kent after his investiture by President Dmitry Medvedev with the Order of Friendship at the Kremlin in 2009

Prince Michael has a strong interest in Russia, where he is a well-known figure (he is a recipient of the Order of Friendship). Tsar Nicholas II was a first cousin of three of his grandparents. When the bodies of the Tsar and some of his family were discovered in 1979, the remains were later identified by DNA using, among others, Prince Michael's blood sample for recognition. He attended the 1998 burial of the Tsar and his family in St Petersburg. He is an Honorary Member of the Romanov Family Association. He is also the second cousin of Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, who is a claimant to the headship of the Imperial Family of Russia. They share the same great-grandfather, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich.

Prince Michael competed for Great Britain in the 1971 FIBT World Bobsleigh Championships but crashed and failed to finish the event. He was official non-travelling reserve for the 1972 Winter Olympic Games. He took part in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally in an Austin Maxi, but he and his crew failed to finish the event.

Both Prince and Princess Michael of Kent have been the focus of 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 (some sources quote £76) for the use of their apartments at Kensington Palace, a committee of British MPs demanded they be evicted. The British Monarchy Media Centre denies these 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."

Prince Michael has been under close scrutiny by the media for financial assistance given to him by Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. In May 2012, The Sunday Times reported that the Prince had received £320,000 during a six-year period from 2002 to 2008 into a family business owned by the prince's secretary, from a fund controlled by Berezovsky, in which 56 payments of between £5,000 and £15,000 were sent through offshore companies. In an interview with The Sunday Times Berezovsky stated, "There is nothing underhand or improper about the financial assistance I have given Prince Michael. It is a matter between friends."

As the child of a younger son of a British sovereign, he is styled as a British prince with the prefix His Royal Highness and a territorial designation deriving from his father's dukedom: "His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent".

Honours

Orders

• 4 July 1992 Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO)
• 2 June 2003 Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)
• 18 January 2001 Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of Saint John (KStJ)

Medals

• 1953 Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal
• 1971 United Nations Medal for UNFICYP
• 1977 Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal
• 2002 Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
• 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
• 19 October 2015 Canadian Forces Decoration

Foreign orders

• 4 November 2009 Order of Friendship (Russia)
• Order of the Sun (Peru)

Honorary military appointments

Canada

• Colonel-in-Chief, The Essex and Kent Scottish (14 November 2001–present)

United Kingdom

• Honorary Commodore, Royal Naval Reserve (1 April 1994–2004)
• Honorary Rear Admiral, Royal Naval Reserve (2004–2015)
• Honorary Vice Admiral, Royal Naval Reserve (9 March 2015–present)
• Honorary Auxiliary Commodore, Royal Naval Auxiliary Service (1990)
• Commodore-in-Chief, Maritime Reserves (2006–present)
• Honorary Colonel, British Army (10 November 2010–present)
• Senior Colonel, The King's Royal Hussars
• Regimental Colonel, Honourable Artillery Company (2009–2012)
• Royal Honorary Colonel, Honourable Artillery Company (31 January 2012–present). (member since 1981)
• Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Benson (27 June 2002–2012)
• Honorary Air Marshal of RAF Benson (1 March 2012–present)

Fellowships

• Grand Master of the Order of Mark Master Masons of England.
• Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation
• Chartered Institute of Linguists
• Royal Aeronautical Society
• Society of Genealogists
• Institute of Road Safety Officers
• Institute of the Motor Industry

Arms

Arms of Prince Michael of Kent

Notes As a descendant of George V, the Prince Michael's arms are based on the Royal Arms. The following explains the way in which his arms are differenced from those of the Queen. Coronet Coronet of a Grandchild of the Sovereign Crest On the coronet of children of other sons of the Sovereign, composed of four crosses-pattées alternated with four strawberry leaves a lion statant guardant or, crowned with the like coronet and differenced with a label as in the Arms. Supporters The Royal Supporters differenced with the like coronet and label. Orders The Royal Victorian Order circlet. VICTORIA Other elements The Royal Arms differenced with a five point label - the usual 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. Symbolism As with the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom. The first and fourth quarters are the arms of England, the second of Scotland, the third of Ireland.