HRH Princess Michael of Kent is reportedly unwell following a stroke. This comes after a run of bad health for the wife of Prince Michael of Kent. The 81 year-old wife of the King's cousin is said to be seriously ill.
The Daily Mail reported on Saturday: "Her Royal Highness suffered a stroke. Sadly, she is now bedridden." A spokesman for Princess Michael said: "We are grateful for the concern shown, but do not comment on private medical matters."
Despite reports of his wife's condition, her 83-year-old husband, Prince Michael of Kent travelled to Birmingham on Friday to attend the opening of Crufts, with the Kennel Club delighted with his appearance.
"The Royal Kennel Club was honoured to welcome His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent to Crufts today" they wrote on Instagram. His Royal Highness’s visit was a valued occasion, recognising the dedication and expertise that underpin the sport of dogs, and the ongoing commitment to canine health, welfare and responsible ownership."
Princess Michael celebrated her 81st birthday in January.
Her husband Prince Michael is a grandson of King George V and Queen Mary, and a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
The prince was born at Coppins, Iver, Buckinghamshire, the country home of his parents, 4 July, 1942, the second son of HRH The Prince George Edward Alexander Edmund, 1st Duke of Kent, KG, KT, GCMG, GCVO, PC (born 20 December, 1902), and his wife HRH Princess Marina of Greece & Denmark, CI, GCVO, GBE (born 13 December, 1906), and was named Michael George Charles Franklin, his last name in honour of President Franklin Roosevelt, who was one of his godfathers.
At Prince Michael's christening on 4 August 1942, in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle, his godparents were his paternal uncle King George VI; Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (for whom her son-in-law Prince Bernhard stood proxy); King Haakon VII of Norway (his great-uncle); the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (for whom the Duke of Kent stood proxy); Frederica of Hanover, Hereditary Princess of Greece (his first cousin once removed, who was absent); 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).
Michael's father, the Duke of Kent, died tragically a few weeks later in the Dunbeath air crash in Scotland on 25 August 1942, in which fourteen of the fifteen crew and passengers were killed.
His widowed mother lived on as a popular member of the British Royal Family and died at Kensington Palace, from a brain tumour, 27 August, 1968.
Princess Marina was the third and youngest daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, and his wife Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. Her father was the third son of George I of Greece and Queen Olga, while her mother was the only daughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia. Her father was a grandson of Christian IX of Denmark, while her mother was a granddaughter of Alexander II, Tsar of Russia.
Prince Michael was educated at Sunningdale, then Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
At the age of five, 20 Nov 1947, he was a page boy at the wedding of his cousin, Princess Elizabeth to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, RN.
His Royal Highness joined the army and was commissioned into the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own), later the Roya Hussars (PWO), Commodore RNR, Grand Master of the Lodge of Mark Master Masons, and Provincial Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex, in the United Grand Lodge of England. His elder brother, the Duke of Kent, has been Grand Master, the United Grand Lodge of England since 1967. Prince Michael is Hon Liveryman of the Clothworkers' Company, Leathersellers' Co, Scientific Instrument Makers' Co, Coach Makers and Coach Harness Makers' Co.
HRH 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.
Prince Michael represented Queen Elizabeth II at the funeral of President Ahmed of India in 1977; and the at the funeral of President Makarios of Cyprus, 1977. He represented the Queen at the Independence of Belize in 1981, the funeral of King Sobhuza II of Swaziland, 1982; the Coronation of King Mswati III of Swaziland, 1986; Commonwealth President of the Royal Life Saving Society, President of the Royal Automobile Club, the Institute of the Motor Industry, SSAFA, Medical Commission on Accident Prevention, the Dogs' Home Battersea, the Royal Patriotic Fund Corporation, the National Eye Research Centre, the Kennel Club, the Institute of Road Safety Officers, and the Society of Genealogists, Patron of the Museum of Army Flying, the Veterans Car Club of Great Britain, the Thames Rowing Club, the Popular Flying Association, the Museum Trust Appeal, the Bermuda Maritime Museum, the David Shepherd Conservation Fund, the Carriage Foundation, the Brooklands Museum Trust Appeal, Founder of the Prince Michael Road Safety Award Scheme, Fellow of the Institute of the Motor Industry, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Trustee of the National Motor Museum, &c.
Honorary military appointments: Canada - Canada Colonel-in-Chief, The Essex and Kent Scottish (14 November 2001 – present), United Kingdom: United Kingdom Honorary Commodore, Royal Naval Reserve (1 April 1994 – 2004), United Kingdom Honorary Commodore, Maritime Volunteer Service, United Kingdom Honorary Rear Admiral, Royal Naval Reserve (2004–2015), United Kingdom Honorary Vice Admiral, Royal Naval Reserve (9 March 2015 – present), United Kingdom Honorary Auxiliary Commodore, Royal Naval Auxiliary Service (1990), United Kingdom Commodore-in-Chief, Maritime Reserves (2006–present), United Kingdom Honorary Colonel, British Army (10 November 2010 – present), United Kingdom Senior Colonel, The King's Royal Hussars, United Kingdom Regimental Colonel, Honourable Artillery Company (2009–2012), United Kingdom Royal Honorary Colonel, Honourable Artillery Company (31 January 2012 – present). (member since 1981), United Kingdom Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Benson (27 June 2002 – 2012), United Kingdom Honorary Air Marshal of RAF Benson (1 March 2012 – present)
Prince Michael is fluent in French and has a working knowledge of German and Italian, and is a qualified interpreter of Russian.
In his younger years, Prince Michael was a competitive rower and bobsledder and was on the reserve list for Britain's bobsleigh team at the 1972 Winter Olympics.
In 2014 Prince Michael was successfully treated for prostate cancer.
Prince Michael is the recipient of the following orders:-
2 June 1953: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, 6 February 1977: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, 18 January 2001: Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of Saint John (KStJ), 6 February 2002: Recipient of the 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: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, 19 October 2015: Recipient of the Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD), 6 February 2022: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, 6 May 2023: Recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal.
Foreign awards: UN: Recipient of the United Nations Medal for UNFICYP (1971), Russia: Member of the Order of Friendship (4 November 2009 – 4 March 2022), Two Sicilies: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I (19 August 2017), Peru: Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun (2 November 1994), &c.
Prince Michael married at Vienna, 30 June, 1978, Baroness Marie-Christine Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz, who was thereafter styled as HRH Princess Michael of Kent.
Eighth in line to the throne at the time of his birth, the Prince lost his right of succession following his marriage because Marie-Christine is a Roman Catholic and the Bill of Rights (1689) and the Act of Settlement (1701) excluded those who married Roman Catholics from the Succession. However, this provision was repealed by the Succession to the Crown Act (2013) and the Prince’s place in the Succession was reinstated.
Marie-Christine was born 15 January, 1945, daughter of Baron Gunther Hubertus von Reibnitz (1894-1983), and his wife, Maria Anna Carolina Franziska Walpurga Bernadette Gräfin Szapáry von Muraszombath, Széchysziget und Szapár . She was born on her mother's estate at Tachau (now Tachov), in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). As a child she was taken to live in Australia and was educated there, and came to London in 1965.
On 25 May, 1971, Marie-Christine became engaged to Old Etonian banker Thomas Troubridge (born 26 December, 1939), scion of the Troubridge baronets. The couple had met on a boar hunt in Germany in 1969. Marie-Christine married Troubridge at Chelsea Old Church, London, 15 September, 1971. Her first cousin was a close friend of Prince William of Gloucester (1941-72), a first cousin of her future second husband. The childless marriage ended in divorce in the summer of 1977, and was later annulled by the Roman Catholic Church.
Prince Michael first met Marie-Christine in 1972 at Barnwell Manor, Northamptonshire, the home of his uncle and aunt, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
On 30 May, 1978 with days of the annulment of the Troubridge marriage , Prince Michael of Kent and Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz announced their engagement with the blessing of Queen Elizabeth II, the approval of the Privy Council and the Catholic Church.
That the Queen gave her cousin permission to marry a divorcee might seen prima facie, surprising. Since the Queen is supreme governor of the Church of England, which then opposed the remarriage of divorced people. It is said that at this time Her Majesty had declined to grant approval for the marriage of her cousin Prince William of Gloucester and his love Mrs Nicole Sieff. It was of course the wish of the Queen's uncle, King Edward VIII, to marry a divorcee that resulted in the Abdication Crisis of 1936. And in the 1950s the scandal of Princess Margaret's desire to marry the divorced Group Capt Peter Townsend had caused much heart ache for the Queen and her younger sister.
The wedding was celebrated at the Town Hall in Vienna. Guests included the Duke of Kent, his sister Princess Alexandra and her husband the Hon Angus Ogilvy, Lady Helen Windsor, Prince Michael's niece, and Princess Anne and Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
Because Prince Michael had announced that any children of the marriage would be brought up in the Anglican faith the Catholic authorities forbade a church wedding which had been planned to take place at the Schottenkirche, Vienna. The Vienna Boys' Choir had been engaged, ecclesiastical dignitaries were enrolled, and European royalty was said to be attending in their hundreds. This did not happen.
Following the civil wedding a dinner took place at the Schwarzenberg Palace. On 30 October, 1978 the Archbishop of Canterbury held a service of prayer and blessing at Lambeth Palace, and in 1983 Prince and Princess Michael finally went through a Catholic service at Archbishop's House, Westminster.
Prince and Princess Michael have two children, a son, Lord Frederick Michael George David Louis Windsor, born 6 April, 1979, at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, and a daughter Lady Gabriella Marina Alexandra Ophelia Windsor, born at St Mary's Hospital, 23 April, 1981 (Shakespeare's birthday hence her last forename). Under the terms of letters patent of King George V both the children rank as the children of a duke and were prefixed 'Lord' and 'Lady' from birth.
Lord Frederick married at Hampton Court, 12 September, 2009, the actress Sophie Lara Winkleman (born 5 August, 1980), and they have issue, two daughters, Maud Elizabeth Daphne Marina (born 15 Aug, 2013), and Isabella Alexandra Mary (born 16 January, 2016).
Lady Gabriella Windsor married 18 May, 2019, Thomas Henry Robin Kingston (born in 1978), son of (William) Martin Kingston QC by his wife Jill Mary Bache. Tom Kingston died from a self inflicted gun shot wound, 25 February, 2024, aged 45.
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