Prince and Princess Michael of Kent Current Events 7: Sep 2022 -

[Minister of Court]

Not knowing the background of this event, I wonder if the invitation had been addressed directly to Prince Michael, and not to the Royal Family as such. So he might be there in a personal capacity, not representing the King, because of his previous links to the organisation holding the event.

But be that as it may, I enjoy seeing the old Prince out and about.

 

[Hallo girl]

Not knowing the background of this event, I wonder if the invitation had been addressed directly to Prince Michael, and not to the Royal Family as such. So he might be there in a personal capacity, not representing the King, because of his previous links to the organisation holding the event.

But be that as it may, I enjoy seeing the old Prince out and about.

Excellent point, maybe it was a personal invitation. There appears to be a tendency in some parts to assume that because a cousin of The King or an older relative attends an event it is because nobody else can be bothered or are not interested.

I have checked the details, Prince MIchael is an Honorary Admiral of The Little Ships, this event was in remembrance of Operation Dynamo.

 

[Hallo girl]

The Royal House send to France an old , frail Prince Michael of Kent wearing an Uniform he does not deserve.
All my respect for his Brother the Duke of Kent.

Read up on Operation Dynamo and The Little Ships and you will understand why he was there.

 

[muriel]

He attended events like Trooping the Colour after Harry and Andrew stopped even though he was a non-working royal but the late Queen continued to invite family members to these events as she valued family whereas Charles doesn't. For him the fewer people to take the limelight away from him the better.

Do you really believe the presence of Michael of Kent on the balcony would in any way take the limelight away from the King? Or, in a post Harry & Andrew world, it is just the case of an increased focus on the working members of the family for public appearances?

 

[Iluvbertie]

Do you really believe the presence of Michael of Kent on the balcony would in any way take the limelight away from the King? Or, in a post Harry & Andrew world, it is just the case of an increased focus on the working members of the family for public appearances?

It is the large number of extended family members that takes the limelight away - not one specific individual (other than Catherine and her children who get about 80% of the coverage anyway but with another 20 or so that remaining 20% would see coverage of him drop to a much lower percentage anyway).

I don't understand the second question.

 

[Hallo girl]

There is a great deal of ageism on this forum, we have seen it repeatedly with regards older members of the family who still take part in ceremonial or charitable events.
The fact that an 80 year is prepared to take part in charitable events should be something to congratulate , not deride, or turn it into an attack on other members of the family.
Comments about doddering, frail, shuffling, having to be held up, with regards people who commit to service and see it as a life time commitment to the crown not just when you decide to collaborate.

 

[muriel]

It is the large number of extended family members that takes the limelight away - not one specific individual (other than Catherine and her children who get about 80% of the coverage anyway but with another 20 or so that remaining 20% would see coverage of him drop to a much lower percentage anyway).

In the world of Twitter and short snappy messages, clear messaging is important. I don't think having 20 members of the larger royal family on the balcony, most of whom are not working family, adds anything at all. The working RF, led by the King & Queen, are the central focus of "the Firm".

Not quite sure what having Michael of Kent on the balcony really serves. I appreciate he does do the odd engagement or two on behalf of the Crown, but he has never really been a full time member of the Firm. QE2 had him and his family on the balcony, but that was really before Harry and Andrew had made it necessary to separate out working members of the Firm from family members.

 

[the_qvds]

I’m a supporter of all extended members on the balcony. And I’d like to point out that:
1. All members of the family continues to be invited to Trooping events, they only don’t appear on the principal balcony.
2. Prince Michael is a wonderful man and he stopping appearing on royal events doesn’t have any in common with the scandals where Prince Michael was clearly a victim from the boring UK media.

 

[Hallo girl]

I’m a supporter of all extended members on the balcony. And I’d like to point out that:
1. All members of the family continues to be invited to Trooping events, they only don’t appear on the principal balcony.
2. Prince Michael is a wonderful man and he stopping appearing on royal events doesn’t have any in common with the scandals where Prince Michael was clearly a victim from the boring UK media.

I agree, at a time that the government of the day wanted to build a relationship with Russia Prince Michael was useful, then the politics changed , the media are bored so find connections.

 

[VictoriaB]

He stopped being invited to events when he retired from public life shortly after the late Queen's Jubilee in 2022 - literally within a couple of weeks he officially retired. Since then it has only been the really big things like the funeral and the coronation. He attended events like Trooping the Colour after Harry and Andrew stopped even though he was a non-working royal but the late Queen continued to invite family members to these events as she valued family whereas Charles doesn't. For him the fewer people to take the limelight away from him the better.

Does that come from knowledge or assumption. The King doesn't seem to have a problem inviting working Royals and non-working Royals to share the spotlight on Christmas morning or at Ascot.

People on this board might know how the funding for the official work of the Royal Family is organised but the majority of people don't. There is a risk that people will just see 40 or 50 people on the balcony and assume everyone in the family is on the public payroll. I agree with others on here that the optics are much better nowadays.

 

[Toledo]

The Royal House send to France an old , frail Prince Michael of Kent wearing an Uniform he does not deserve.
All my respect for his Brother the Duke of Kent.

Ouch!
These events in Europe and the USA allow the public today to see, meet and know about the veterans that risked their lives for their country during wars. And this is also important for senior veterans, they meet with others to share memories of what they went through, regardless of the generation.

The frail Prince Michael of Kent is still part of the extended royal family and was born in 1942, right in the middle of WWII at it's worst. If he is here representing King Charles is because he was asked to do so, since the nucleus of the family is reduced. If this was a personal invitation, then he shows the same respect for the occasion as if he was representing king Charles.

This would be an perfect event for Harry, a war veteran, to attend had he stayed a working royal or had he had shown a bit more respect for family and country. Yet, Prince Michael at his advanced age came to the rescue to honor the day and respect the veterans.

 

[Alison H]

Prince Michael is the Honorary Admiral of the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships and Commodore-in-Chief of the Maritime Reserves.

He served in the Army for 20 years, including being part of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus in the 1970s.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Has Princess Michael of Kent done any more book writing?

 

[the_qvds]

As Princess Michael’s biggest fan, here’s the response for your question:

Her latest book was released is called A Cheetah's Tale. She published it in 2017. It’s a bit of an autobiography about her time as a teenager in Africa (her father had a farm there. They were not much close at all during her childhood but she spent some months with him in Africa when she was about 18/19).

The Princess has revealed in December last year that she’s working a new book.

But on a more interesting note: HRH also revealed she’s working on a podcast. Here’s her full quote:

“The podcasts are a new thing that’s popped up. My first nanny, Jean Rowcliffe, who is still a friend, said, “Why don’t you have a podcast?
The idea was that I do six samples of my historical lectures – I have forty lectures that I have done over the years. So, I chose six quite different ones, recorded them and gave them to Simon Astaire [media adviser] and said, ‘Let’s see. If it is successful then I will do more.’

The quote above is from her interview for Majesty Magazine to mark her 80th birthday (published in Dec. 2024, her 80th birthday was in Jan. 2025).

If you are on X/Twitter you can read more about this interview via this link:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1870119422364459278

 

[Tatiana Maria]

As Princess Michael’s biggest fan, here’s the response for your question:

Her latest book was released is called A Cheetah's Tale. She published it in 2017. It’s a bit of an autobiography about her time as a teenager in Africa (her father had a farm there. They were not much close at all during her childhood but she spent some months with him in Africa when she was about 18/19).

The Princess has revealed in December last year that she’s working a new book.

But on a more interesting note: HRH also revealed she’s working on a podcast. Here’s her full quote:

“The podcasts are a new thing that’s popped up. My first nanny, Jean Rowcliffe, who is still a friend, said, “Why don’t you have a podcast?
The idea was that I do six samples of my historical lectures – I have forty lectures that I have done over the years. So, I chose six quite different ones, recorded them and gave them to Simon Astaire [media adviser] and said, ‘Let’s see. If it is successful then I will do more.’

The quote above is from her interview for Majesty Magazine to mark her 80th birthday (published in Dec. 2024, her 80th birthday was in Jan. 2025).

If you are on X/Twitter you can read more about this interview via this link:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1870119422364459278

Interesting, thank you. Marie-Christine is obviously an intriguing, complex person and it is a shame that her image has been distorted into a mere target of mockery or vilification for much of the public.

Has she discussed in more detail in her autobiography or elsewhere where and how she spent her early life? I was able to discover that she received a cosmopolitan upbringing including time spent in Austria, Australia, and Mozambique, but no more than that.

 

[maria-olivia]

The now King said about her "Rent a Kent" ; [.....]

 

[the_qvds]

Marie-Olivia and Sophie25:

The King is very fond of Michael and Marie Christine, thank you very much!

[.....]

 

[maria-olivia]

She never received any British Decoration ???

 

[wbenson]

She never received any British Decoration ???

No, Elizabeth II was very parsimonious in that area relative to past practices.

 

[An Ard Ri]

She never received any British Decoration ???

The only one I'm aware of is the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)

 

[kbk]

Which was probably given to everyone who took active part in formal celebrations.

No, Elizabeth II was very parsimonious in that area relative to past practices.

To such extent that none of the late Queen's royal aunts nor her working cousins' wives were given Garters.

But I think giving Marie-Christine a royal family order would be a nice thing to do. I feel sorry for her.

 

[Hans-Rickard]

Which was probably given to everyone who took active part in formal celebrations.


To such extent that none of the late Queen's royal aunts nor her working cousins' wives were given Garters.

But I think giving Marie-Christine a royal family order would be a nice thing to do. I feel sorry for her.

The first female who was not a reigning monarch to recive the Order of the Garter was Queen Alexandra in 1901. Then followed Queen Mary in 1910 and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) in 1936. The first non-royal female to recive the Order of the Garter was the (then) Duchess of Norfolk in 1990… So that women recives the Order of the Garter is a relatively new thing given for how long the Order has existed…

Women have mostly been given the Royal Victorian Order or the Order of the British Empire instead…

I have no idea as to why Princess Michael of Kent has recived no british orders at all… Her husband is a GCVO but only since 2003… She could have been made a DCVO then if they didn’t wanted to give her the highest rank…

She is a controversial person but she is hardly the first royal person who are that…

 

[An Ard Ri]

The first female who was not a reigning monarch to recive the Order of the Garter was Queen Alexandra in 1901. Then followed Queen Mary in 1910 and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) in 1936. The first non-royal female to recive the Order of the Garter was the (then) Duchess of Norfolk in 1990… So that women recives the Order of the Garter is a relatively new thing given for how long the Order has existed…

Women have mostly been given the Royal Victorian Order of the Order of the British Empire instead…

I have no idea as to why Princess Michael of Kent has recived no british orders at all… Her husband is a GCVO but only since 2003… She could have been made a DCVO then if they didn’t wanted to give her the highest rank…

She is a controversial person but she is hardly the first royal person who are that…

I doubt she'll get one now as she no longer attends the State Galas and from memory I don't think that Sarah, Duchess of York was ever bestowed any Royal Orders during her marriage.

 

[Stefan]

I doubt she'll get one now as she no longer attends the State Galas and from memory I don't think that Sarah, Duchess of York was ever bestowed any Royal Orders during her marriage.

Yes Sarah did not get any Order and Diana also only got the Family Order of QEII nothing else

 

[Hans-Rickard]

Yes Princess Michael of Kent (and all the other Kent’s as well) seems to have stopped attending state banquets so there will probably be no new orders for them…

 

[Hallo girl]

Yes Sarah did not get any Order and Diana also only got the Family Order of QEII nothing else

To be fair, Neither of them were in the family long enough to receive any additional orders.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Yes Princess Michael of Kent (and all the other Kent’s as well) seems to have stopped attending state banquets so there will probably be no new orders for them…

Also I don't think Princess Michael of Kent ever carried out any public duties on behalf of the crown.
Had the Princess done so then perhaps she'd have British Royal Order?

 

[Stefan]

To be fair, Neither of them were in the family long enough to receive any additional orders.

Camilla got the Family Order after 2 years and the RVO after 5 or 6. In the case of Diana that would have been around 1987, but probably then already Problems became known and this why she didn't got it.

 

[LauraS3514]

The first female who was not a reigning monarch to recive the Order of the Garter was Queen Alexandra in 1901. Then followed Queen Mary in 1910 and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) in 1936. The first non-royal female to recive the Order of the Garter was the (then) Duchess of Norfolk in 1990… So that women recives the Order of the Garter is a relatively new thing given for how long the Order has existed…

Not quite. There were "Ladies of the Garter" early in its history. Queen Philippa (Edward III) was one, as were her successors up through Elizabeth Wydville, the three eldest daughters of Edward IV, and other royal and noble ladies. The last "Lady of the Garter" in this early period was Margaret, Countess of Richmond, the mother of Henry VI, named in 1488. There were no more until Queen Alexandra.

List of the Knights of the Garter (1348-present)

 

[maria-olivia]

Princess Margaret never received the Garter too