Princess Michael of Kent

Princess Michael was born Freiin (Baroness) Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz on 15 January 1945 in Karlovy Vary, then part of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and officially known as Karlsbad in the German-populated Sudetenland, now in the Czech Republic. She was born at Jagdschloss Inselthal, the family estate inherited from her Austrian maternal grandmother, Princess Hedwig von Windisch-Graetz (1878–1918), the eldest daughter of Alfred III, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, who served as the 11th Minister-President of Austria and was President of the Imperial Council from 1895 to 1918. Marie‑Christine was born into the Reibnitz family, an ancient (uradel) German noble house from Silesia whose lineage can be traced back to 1288 with Henricus de Rybnicz. The ancestral seat of the family was Burg Läusepelz, today Rybnica in present-day Poland. On her paternal line, she descends from the Burggrafen of Dohna, Herrand III von Trauttmansdorff, and the Nostitz family, lineages that also appear among the ancestors of Queen Elizabeth II. She is the younger daughter of Freiherr Günther Hubertus von Reibnitz (1894–1983) and his second wife, Countess Maria Anna Carolina Franziska Walburga Bernadette Szapáry von Muraszombath, Széchysziget und Szapár (1911–1988), Through her mother, Marie‑Christine descends from the House of Lobkowicz and numerous other Austrian princely families, connections that link her by blood to her husband, Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III. She is also descended from Henry II of France and his wife, Catherine de' Medici, and from Henry II's longtime mistress and rival of Catherine, Diane de Poitiers, a connection she has noted in her historical writing. Through this line, she also descends from Peter Paul Rubens, the Flemish Baroque painter and diplomat who was knighted by both the Habsburg and Stuart monarchs. Marie‑Christine's father was a member of the Nazi Party and served as a cavalry officer in the Waffen-SS during the Second World War. Her parents divorced in 1946, and Marie‑Christine, her mother, and her elder brother, Baron Friedrich von Reibnitz (born 1942), moved to Australia, where she was educated at Convent of the Sacred Heart, Rose Bay (now Kincoppal-Rose Bay). In the early 1960s, she lived with her father on his farm in Portuguese-ruled Mozambique. She later studied History of Fine and Decorative Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum. ==Marriages==

Marie‑Christine's first husband was the English banker Thomas Troubridge (1939–2015), the younger brother of Sir Peter Troubridge, 6th Baronet. The couple met at a boar hunt in Germany and were married on 14 September 1971 at Chelsea Old Church, London. They separated in 1973 and were civilly divorced in 1977. The marriage was ecclesiastically annulled by Pope Paul VI in May 1978. Michael presented her with a two-stone sapphire-and-diamond ring made from stones that had belonged to his mother. At the civil ceremony, Marie‑Christine wore a cream two‑piece suitblazer and knee-length skirtby Hardy Amies. For the ball held after the wedding, she wore the City of London diamond fringe tiara and a cream dress from Bellville Sassoon. Upon their marriage, she was accorded the style and title of Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent, the female equivalent of her husband's title. After receiving permission from Pope John Paul II (Pope Paul VI had barred them from having a Catholic wedding), the couple later received a blessing of their marriage in a Roman Catholic ceremony on 29 June 1983 at Archbishop's House, London. Since the Act of Settlement 1701 prohibited anyone who married a Roman Catholic from succeeding to the throne, Michael (then 15th in line) lost his succession rights upon marrying Marie‑Christine. He was reinstated to the line of succession on 26 March 2015 with the passing of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013. Their children are members of the Church of England and have retained their succession rights since birth. Marie-Christine and Michael have two children: Marie-Christine was linked romantically by the press to John Warner and the businessmen Ward Hunt and Mikhail Kravchenko. She also had a friendship with John W. Galbreath and Peter de Savary, the latter of whom gifted her a £150,000 parcel of land on Antigua. ==Career==

Before her marriage to Michael, Marie-Christine worked as an interior designer. In 1986, her first book Crowned in a Far Country: Portraits of Eight Royal Brides was published, after which she faced allegations of plagiarism and reached an out-of-court settlement with another author. In 2008, she was engaged as a consultant by Galerie Gmurzynska in Switzerland and later became their international ambassador. Books • • • • • • • ==Royal and charitable activities==

, England, 2008 Marie-Christine and Michael represented the Queen at the Belize independence celebrations and at the coronation of King Mswati III of Eswatini. Michael supports a large number of charities and organisations, and Marie-Christine supports him in his work. Marie-Christine is the international royal patron of the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia. She is also a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, a learned society dedicated to natural history and taxonomy. ==Finances==

Michael has never received a parliamentary annuity or an allowance from the Privy Purse. The couple have had the use of a five-bedroom, five-reception grace and favour apartment at Kensington Palace. Queen Elizabeth II paid the rent for the apartment at a market rate of £120,000 annually from her private funds, with the couple contributing a nominal £70 per week. The rent is paid into the Grant-in-aid, which is provided by the Government for the maintenance of the Occupied Royal Palaces, and is recorded within the overall figures for commercial rents in the Grant-in-aid annual report. According to the British Monarchy Media Centre, the Queen's payment was made "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". In 2008, it was announced that Marie-Christine and Michael would begin paying the full £120,000 annual rent from their own funds from 2010. Members of Parliament on the Public Accounts Committee had called for the change after the couple's rental arrangement came to light. They have lived in the apartment since 1979, paying only their utility bills prior to 2002. ==Catholicism==

at a First World War Centenary Commemoration event at Lancaster House, 4 August 2014 Marie-Christine is a Roman Catholic and attended several events during Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the United Kingdom in September 2010. She attended Mass in Westminster Cathedral, where she was seated in the first row among other dignitaries, including Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor, the Duke of Norfolk, and former Prime Minister Tony Blair; the Pope gave them an audience after Mass. On the final day of the visit, she attended the open-air Mass of beatification for Cardinal John Henry Newman at Cofton Park, Birmingham. Marie-Christine was personally involved in the beatification process and attended several other celebrations relating to it before and after the Cofton Park Mass. She also attended a civic dinner with invited dignitaries and bishops in Birmingham, before attending the Mass and meeting the Pope. In 2008, she had attended the translation of Newman's remains at the Birmingham Oratory. In 2024, The Times published a letter to the editor co-signed by Marie-Christine and other Catholic and non-Catholic public figures, calling upon the Holy See to preserve what they described as the "magnificent" cultural artifact of the Catholic Church's Traditional Latin Mass. ==Views and controversies==

Marie-Christine has a long record of statements and incidents that have attracted controversy, including allegations of racist behaviour. The media have reported that she once told an American fashion magazine that she had "more royal blood in her veins than any person to marry into the royal family since Prince Philip". In 2004, she was accused of racially insulting Black diners at a restaurant in New York. A spokesperson acknowledged that she had been angry at the group seated near her but denied that she had told them to "go back to the colonies". In a later interview, she described the group as "a group of rappers", although it included the TV reporter A. J. Calloway a banker, a lawyer, and a music executive. She added that "nobody would have got excited" had he worn the hammer and sickle. During the conversation, she described Diana, Princess of Wales, as a "bitter" and "nasty" woman. In 2015, she generated controversy by asserting publicly that animals do not have rights because they do not pay taxes, maintain bank accounts, or participate in elections. In 2017, she was criticised for wearing a blackamoor brooch depicting a stylised African figure to a Christmas banquet at Buckingham Palace attended by Meghan Markle, then the fiancée of Harry. A spokesperson later said that she "is very sorry and distressed that it has caused offence". In 2018, British-American writer and journalist Aatish Taseer, formerly her daughter's partner, alleged that Marie-Christine had owned a pair of black sheep named after Venus and Serena Williams. ==Health==

In 1985, Marie-Christine was hospitalised for a week to undergo treatments for "nervous exhaustion". In May 2021, it was reported that she was suffering from blood clots after being diagnosed with COVID-19 six months earlier. She is known to have experienced lung problems in childhood. At the same time it was reported that she had undergone heart surgery about a year earlier. ==Titles, styles, honours and arms==

Titles and styles Marie-Christine was known as Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz before her marriage to Michael. Since their marriage, she has been styled as Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent. Honours • 6 February 2012: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal Foreign honours • Austrian Imperial and Royal Family: Dame of the Order of the Starry Cross (September 2010) • Two Sicilian Royal Family: Knight Grand Cross of Justice of the Order of Saint George Award • League of Mercy: Companion of the Order of Mercy Other • Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners • Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Weavers • Fellow of the Linnean Society of London (FLS) Arms ==Issue==