Prince Michael occasionally represented Elizabeth II at some functions in Commonwealth realms outside the United Kingdom during her reign. 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.
Michael was educated at Sunningdale School and Eton College[5] and is fluent in French as well as having a "working knowledge"[6] of German and Italian.[6] He is the first member of the royal family to learn Russian,[5] of which he is a qualified interpreter.[6]
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.
On 30 June 1978, Michael married, at a civil ceremony, at the City Hall (Wiener Rathaus) in Vienna, Austria, the German noblewoman Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz. After receiving Pope John Paul II's permission (a previous pontiff, Pope Paul VI, had barred them from having a Catholic wedding),[24] the couple later received a blessing of their marriage in a Catholic ceremony on 29 June 1983 at Archbishop's House, London.
At the time of the marriage, Marie-Christine von Reibnitz was both a Roman Catholic and a divorcée. She had been married to the banker Thomas Troubridge (1939–2015); they separated in 1973, divorced in 1977, and had their marriage annulled by the Catholic Church a year later, two months before her marriage to Michael. Under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701, Michael forfeited his place in the line of succession to the throne through his marriage to a Catholic.[25] 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 was 51st in line to the throne as of September 2022[update].
Michael and Marie-Christine have two children, both brought up as members of the Church of England and therefore in the line of succession to the throne since birth:
Prince Michael manages his own consultancy business, and undertakes business throughout the world.[28] He is also a qualified interpreter of Russian.[29][30]
Prince Michael speaks fluent Russian[34] and has a strong interest in Russia, where he is a well-known figure (he is a former recipient of the Order of Friendship). Tsar Nicholas II was a first cousin of three of his grandparents: George V, Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. When the bodies of the Tsar and some of his family were recovered in 1991, the remains were later identified by DNA using, among others, a sample from Michael for recognition.[35] He attended the 1998 burial of the Tsar and his family in St Petersburg.[36] He is an honorary member of the Romanov Family Association.[37] 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. Michael is the patron of organisations which have close ties with Russia, including the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce and the St Gregory's Foundation.[38] In his capacity as patron of Children's Fire and Burns Trust, Prince Michael has led fundraising rallies in 1999 and 2003 in Russia to raise money for the charity. He also led another rally in 2005 and raised money for the Royal Marsden Hospital and Britain's Charities Aid Foundation Russia.[38]
In 2002, both Michael and his wife were the subject of criticism over the rent paid on their accommodation at Kensington Palace following scrutiny by the House of Commons Public Accounts committee on the cost of royal palaces and whether they were value for money.[42] The committee had called on the Queen to evict its residents and put the apartments on a more commercial footing. When it was claimed that the couple paid a rent of only £69 per week for the use of their apartments at Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace announced 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."[43]
Prince Michael has been scrutinized for financial assistance given to him by exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky through offshore companies, with a reported total of £320,000 in payments over the period 2002–2008.[44] 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."[45]
In May 2021, reports were published stating that Michael was "selling access" to Vladimir Putin's political representatives.[46][47] Footage from a Zoom call was released of Michael, alongside Simon Isaacs, 4th Marquess of Reading, interacting with undercover reporters posing as business executives seeking to make contacts with the Kremlin. In the video, he assured the men that his close ties with the country would be of benefit, and that he could introduce them to high-ranking figures within the Russian government in exchange for money. The call took place the day after the European Union imposed sanctions on the Kremlin.[46] Michael was being offered £143,000 for a proposal and £36,000 a month by the faux businessmen, which he expressed satisfaction with. The Marquess claimed that Michael was the Queen's "unofficial ambassador to Russia" and had direct access to Putin. He later stated that he had "overpromised", while the prince said that he had not had contact with Putin since 2003. In a 2019 interview, Michael stated that he visited Russia twice a year as part of his work for the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce.[46]
Marina Litvinenko denounced the prince's actions, saying that it demonstrated that he did not "care about human rights, democracy, about the people who are dying in Russia or what he did to your own citizens on UK soil".[46] Conservative MP Bob Seely released a statement saying, in part: "We have sanctions against President Putin's regime for good reason. I'd love to know what Prince Michael thinks he is doing by making the UK's values and standards look optional."[46]
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles
Royal monogram
As a 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".
Unofficial
Calabar, Nigeria
2017 – present:
A person of honour and high standing in the Efik Eburutu Kingdom (Efik: Ada Idagha Ke Efik Eburutu)[48]
2003: Sinerghia Economics and Finance Institute, Honorary Professor[38]
2012: St Petersburg University of Humanities and Social Sciences, Honorary Doctorate[38]
Awards
2002: The International Man of the Year Award, Plekhanov Economics Academy[38]
2003: The "Glory of Russia", Plekhanov Economics Academy[38]
Arms
Coat of 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 King.
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.
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.
Banner
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.
^ ab"The current Royal Family". Official Website of the British Monarchy. Archived from the original on 1 May 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ abc"Business". Prince Michael of Kent. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
^"No. 48589". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 April 1981. p. 5767.
^Ashley Walton; Alan Cochrane (17 June 1978). "Royal Couple's Anguish: Church wedding ban by the Pope". Daily Express. No. 24, 248.
^Picknett, Lynn, Prince, Clive, Prior, Stephen & Brydon, Robert, War of the Windsors: A Century of Unconstitutional Monarchy (2002), p. 271. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN1-84018-631-3.
1 Not a British prince by birth, but created Prince Consort. 2 Not a British prince by birth, but created a Prince of the United Kingdom. Princes whose titles were removed and eligible people who do not use the title are shown in italics.
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