Prince Michael of Kent
Prince Michael of Kent, GCVO, KStJ, CD (Michael George Charles Franklin; born 4 July 1942) is a member of the British royal family, who is 52nd in the line of succession to the British throne as of May 2023. Queen Elizabeth II and Michael were first cousins through their fathers, King George VI, and Prince George, Duke of Kent. Michael's mother Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark was also a first cousin of the Queen's husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, making him both a second cousin and first cousin once removed to King Charles III.
Prince Michael would occasionally represent Queen 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.
Early Life
Prince Michael was born on 4 July 1942, at Coppins, Iver, Buckinghamshire. He was the third child of Prince George, Duke of Kent, who was the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary and a younger brother of King Edward VIII and George VI. At birth, Michael was seventh in line to the British throne. His mother was Princess Marina, a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia.
At his baptism on 4 August 1942 in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle, his godparents were his paternal uncle The King; Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (for whom her son-in-law Prince Bernhard stood proxy); King Haakon VII of Norway (his great-uncle); US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (for whom the Duke of Kent stood proxy); Frederica of Hanover, Hereditary Princess of Greece (who was not present), the wife of Paul of Greece, his first cousin-once-removed; Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (his paternal uncle, who was absent); the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (his paternal first cousin twice-removed); and Lady Patricia Ramsay (his paternal first cousin twice-removed). Because of the war, newspaper reports did not identify the location of the baptism and said instead that it took place at "a private chapel in the country."
Seven weeks after Michael's birth, his father was killed in a plane crash near Dunbeath, Caithness, Scotland, on 25 August 1942
At the age of five, Prince Michael was a page boy at the wedding of his cousins Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.
Education and Military Service
He was educated at Sunningdale School and Eton College and is fluent in French as well as having a "working knowledge" of German and Italian, he was the first member of the royal family to learn Russian, of which he is a qualified interpreter.
Michael was commissioned into the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) in 1963. He later served in The Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) after the amalgamation between the 11th Hussars and the 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) in 1969. He was 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 Defense Intelligence Staff. He retired from the Army with the rank of Major in 1981.
In 1994, Michael was made Honorary Commodore (later Honorary Rear Admiral and then Vice 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 Honorable Artillery Company and on 31 January 2012 became its Royal Honorary Colonel. He is also Colonel-in-Chief of the Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment in Canada.
Activities and Patronages
As the third 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. The Prince was given the use of a grace and favor apartment at Kensington Palace upon his marriage in 1978.
Michael represented the Queen at state funerals in India, Cyrus 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.
Michael supports a large number of charities and organizations. Some of his patronages and presidencies include: the Kennel Club, Children's Burns Trust, Maritime Volunteer Service, the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships, Life Saving Society, Royal Automobile Club, National Eye Research Centre, Motor Sports Association, Brooklands Museum Trust, the Light Aircraft Association, and the London School of Business and Finance.
He announced his retirement from public life in June 2022 as he approached his 80th birthday.
Marriage
On 30 June 1978, Michael married, at a civil ceremony, at the City Hall (Wiener Rathaus) 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), the couple later received a blessing of their marriage in a Catholic ceremony on 29 June 1983 at Archbishop’s House, London.
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:
-Lord Frederick Windsor, born 6 April 1979 at St Mary's Hospital, London; married, 12 September 2009, Sophie Winkleman. Educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford. They have two daughters, Maud and Isabella.
-Lady Gabriella Kingston, born 23 April 1981at St Mary's Hospital, London; married, 18 May 2019, Thomas Kingston. Educated at Downe House, Brown University in the US, and Linacre College Oxford.
Personal Interests
Commercial
Prince Michael manages his own consultancy business, and undertakes business throughout the world.
He is also 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.
Russia
Prince Michael speaks fluent Russian 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. 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. Michael is the patron of organizations which have close ties with Russia, including the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce and the St Gregory's Foundation. 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 Britian's Charities Aid Foundation Russia.
On 4 March 2022, Michael returned the Order of Friendship in the aftermath of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Sport
Prince Michael was a part of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst rowing crew that won the Maiden Fours at Bedford in 1961. Prince Michael competed for Great Britian in the 1971 FIBT World Bobsleigh Championship but crashed and failed to finish the event. He was official non-travelling reserve for the 1972 Winter Olympics. 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.
Media Scrutiny
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. 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."
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. 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."
In May 2021, reports were published stating that Michael was "selling access" to Vladimir Putin's political representatives. 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.
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.
Marina Litvinenko denounced the prince's actions, saying that it demonstrated that he didn't "care about human rights, democracy, about the people who are dying in Russia or what he did to your own citizens on UK soil." Conservative MP Bob Seely released a statement saying, in part: "We have sanctions against President Putin's regime for good reason. I've love to know what Prince Michael thinks he is doing by making the UK's values and standards look optional."
Unofficial
Calabar, Nigeria
2017-present:
In Efik: Ada Idagha Ke Efik Eburutu
In English: A person of honor and high standing in the Efik Eburutu Kingdom
Honors
2 June 1953: Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal
6 February 1977: Queen Eizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal
18 January 2001: Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of Saint John (KStJ)
6 February 2002: Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
2 June 2003: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)
4 July 1992: Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO)
6 February 2012: Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
19 October 2015: Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD)
6 February 2022: Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal
6 May 2023: King Charles III Coronation Medal
Title
4 July 1942 His Royal Highness Prince Michael George Charles Franklin of Kent
House: Windsor
Religion: Church of England
