Prince Michael | |||||
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Prince Michael of Kent in 2014
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Born |
Coppins, Iver, Buckinghamshire |
4 July 1942 ||||
Spouse | Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz (m. 1978) | ||||
Issue |
Lord Frederick Windsor Lady Gabriella Windsor |
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House | Windsor | ||||
Father | Prince George, Duke of Kent | ||||
Mother | Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark | ||||
Religion | Church of England | ||||
Military career | |||||
Allegiance | United Kingdom | ||||
Service/branch | British Army | ||||
Years of service | 1961–1981 | ||||
Rank | Major | ||||
Battles/wars | Cyprus dispute |
Full name | |
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Michael George Charles Franklin |
Royal family of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms |
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Prince Michael of Kent, GCVO CD (Michael George Charles Franklin; born 4 July 1942) is a paternal first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, being a grandson of King George V and Queen Mary. Prince Michael occasionally represents the Queen at some functions in Commonwealth realms outside the United Kingdom. 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. He is named after Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, the younger brother of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and a first cousin of three of Michael's grandparents.
Prince Michael was born on 4 July 1942, at Coppins, Iver, Buckinghamshire. His father was the Duke of Kent, fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary, and was killed in a plane crash near Caithness, Scotland, on 25 August 1942, just seven weeks and three days after his third child was born. At the time of his birth Prince Michael was seventh in the line of succession to his uncle, King George VI.
His mother was Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, Duchess of Kent, a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and of Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. (The Duchess of Kent's parents were second cousins to one another, being that Nicholas' mother Olga Constantinovna of Russia and Elena's father Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia were first cousins through the line of Nicholas I of Russia.)