The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

HRH Prince Michael of Kent has had a favored position in the royal family since childhood as a cousin to both the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. His father, George V�s son the Duke of Kent, died when he was a baby, and his mother, Princess Marina of Greece, died when he was twenty-six. The Queen allowed Prince Michael to marry a divorced European Catholic, Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, in 1978, and granted them an apartment in Kensington Palace for life. However, they had to marry in a civil ceremony in Vienna, and Prince Michael had to give up his place in the line of succession. Also, they had to raise their children in the Church of England in order for them to keep their very distant places in the line of succession. Ironically, Prince Michael�s sister-in-law the Duchess of Kent converted to Catholicism after her marriage, but the Duke of Kent remains in the line of succession.

The snub that probably most annoys Prince and Princess Michael is that they are not on the Civil List (the royal allowance from Parliament, now reimbursed by the Queen except for herself and her husband), though it is often assumed that they are. This does allow them to earn money from commercial activities, which they do with enthusiasm. Prince and Princess Michael are often accused of being greedy and living beyond their means. Her nickname in the British tabloids is �Princess Pushy,� and she does have a forcefulness about her that does not play well in gentle England.

Princess Michael�s reputation was at a low point in the mid-1980s after accusations of plagiarism in her book Crowned in a Far Country. There was also the revelation that her father had been an SS officer, and she was photographed leaving the home of her rumored lover in disguise. However, the colorful royal scandals of the early 1990s made her indiscretions look minor. Twenty years later, it�s time for a relaunch of the Princess Michael brand. During the last decade, as the royal family became more commercial, Princess Michael published more books and launched a successful career on the lecture circuit in the United States. The British media occasionally pretends to be shocked that she charges appearance fees.

Like his wife, Prince Michael has a fascination with European rather than English culture. His consulting business operates largely in Russia, where his strong resemblance to his cousin Czar Nicholas II has made him very popular. Prince and Princess Michael would probably have preferred the 19th-century pan-European royal family to the self-consciously down-to-earth modern British royal family. The Queen�s attitude toward her cousin was revealed on film when she introduced him to the president of Poland at a state dinner and Prince Michael began speaking Russian. The Queen told him to stop showing off and led the president away.

The Kents were attacked by members of Parliament in 2002 because the rent for their Kensington Palace apartment was so low (it was actually a maintenance fee with no rent). At the same time, the Queen�s advisors suggested that Kensington Palace should cease to be a royal residence following the deaths of Princesses Diana and Margaret, so that it could start bringing in more money as a tourist attraction. The Queen will pay market rent for Prince and Princess Michael for seven years, and then they will leave their apartment when Princess Michael turns 65. The Dukes of Kent and Gloucester still live in Kensington Palace too, but now that their families are grown up, they are also likely to move out in the near future. The media has always cast Princess Michael as a villain, and they view her impending eviction with some glee.

In order to fund the purchase of a retirement home, Prince and Princess Michael are trying to sell their home in Gloucestershire, Nether Lypiatt Manor. It has been on the market for nine months now, and they recently reduced the asking price to four and a half million pounds. One reason why they are selling is that foxhunting has been outlawed, ending a major reason why they went to Gloucestershire. (Princess Michael always looked splendid in hunting gear. She could really carry off the hat.) Of course, other wealthy people who might have wanted to be there for the hunting in the past will not buy the place now. The News of the World repeated the trick they pulled on the Countess of Wessex by sending a fake sheik to pose as a prospective buyer. At least Princess Michael�s comments to the �sheik� were slightly less embarrassing than Sophie Wessex�s indiscretions. Princess Michael also tried to make a reality television series out of the sale of the house, but Channel 4 backed out when she insisted on editorial control.

The Kents seem to have a knack for attracting bad publicity. The media may well be out to get them, but they have made plenty of mistakes too. At the same time, many of the stories told against them are complete hearsay and/or no worse than the rest of the royal family gets away with. Would it be too much to hope that the Queen will cut them off without a penny and the Princess will write an entertaining and honest memoir about life in the royal family? After all, Charles, Diana, and Camilla are the modern version of Henri II, Diane de Poitiers, and Catherine de Medici. Please, Your Royal Highness, please!