Prince Michael of Kent was born on July 4, 1942 at Copins House in Iver, Buckinghamshire, England, his full name was Michael George Charles Franklin at the time of baptism, his grandfather and maternal grandfather were King George V of England and King George I of Greece respectively, his father was Prince George, Duke of Kent, his mother was Princess Marina of Greece, the younger brother of the late Queen Elizabeth II, and the uncle of the current King Charles III of England.
On June 30, 1978, Prince Michael married Marie Christine, who was of German, Austrian, Czech and Hungarian descent, also from the nobility, descended from the ancient Leibniz family in Silesia, her father was a cavalry officer in the German army in World War II, and Mary Christie held the title of Baroness Marie Christie von Leibniz before marrying Prince Michael. After marriage, it was changed to the current Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent. It should be noted that Mary Christie's marriage to Prince Michael was a second marriage, her first husband was British banker Baron Thomas Troubridge (Baron Thomas Troubridge), Baron Troubridge Sr.'s father Trubridge Sr. commanded the battleship Nelson and the aircraft carrier Indomitable during World War II and was awarded the rank of vice admiral, how Baron Trudbridge and Mary Christie separated after only three years of marriage, and survived until their official divorce in 1977.
Under the Succession to the Throne Act 1701, anyone married to a Roman Catholic is prohibited from inheriting the throne, and Mary Christie is a Roman Catholic, so Prince Michael (then the 15th heir to the throne) lost his right to the throne after marrying Mary Christie, but after the subsequent amendment of the Succession to the Throne Act 2013, Prince Michael and his children regained the right to the throne as of October 20, 2022, Prince Michael is the 51st heir to the British throne.
Prince Michael was baptized at Windsor Castle on August 4, 1942, and because he was born on July 4, the United States Day, his father invited then US President Franklin Roosevelt as the godfather of the newborn, but President Roosevelt could not attend due to the war, and Prince Michael's father , the Duke of Kent, was represented by King Haakon VII of Norway and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (with son-in-law Prince Bernhard as an agent).
Prince Michael studied at the Mons Preparatory Officer School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, served in the 11th Hussar Regiment and the Royal Hussar Regiment, retired in 1981 with the rank of Major in the Army after a twenty-year military career, and currently holds a number of honorary ranks, including Honorary Vice Admiral at Benson Base RAF, Honorary Vice Admiral of the Royal Naval Reserve Force, Honorary Colonel of the Honorary Artillery Company of the British Army, in addition to being the Honorary Commander of the Scottish Regiment in Sketer, Essex, Canada.
In terms of blood, Prince Michael's mother (Princess Marina of Greece) is the daughter of Russian Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, and Elena Vladimivovna, as Prince Michael's maternal grandmother, is the granddaughter of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, so Prince Michael's grandparents: grandfather George V and maternal grandmother Grand Duchess Vladimilovna are cousins of the last Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. It is precisely because of this identity that after the bones of Nicholas II and his family were found in Yekaterinburg in 1991, a blood sample of Prince Michael was taken for DNA identification, and in 1998 Prince Michael was present when Nicholas II and his family were reburied in St. Petersburg, and Prince Michael is currently a member of the Romanov Family Association, the current president of which is Princess Olga Andreevna, whose grandfather is Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, brother-in-law of Nicholas II.
Prince Michael's language talent is extraordinary, proficient in French, German, Italian and Russian Chinese languages, especially Russian has reached the level of simultaneous interpretation, itself has a strong interest in Russia, in 2009 the then Russian President Medvedev awarded him the Order of Friendship in the Kremlin, in recognition of Prince Michael's great contribution to promoting Russian cultural exchanges, but after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2022, Prince Michael returned the medal, because the good relationship with Russia has also made Prince Michael deeply involved in the Russia scandal , accused of matchmaking business cooperation between foreign companies and Russian leaders and collecting huge benefits from them, of course, Prince Michael completely denies.
Today, Prince Michael and his wife live in Kensington Palace in Kensington and Chelsea, London, and the royal family living here also includes: Prince William and his wife of Wales, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent, because according to the regulations, in addition to the core members of the royal family, other members of the royal family need to pay their own rent, so Kensington Palace is exempt from collecting rent for William, Prince of Wales, including Prince Michael and several of his brothers. Prince Michael's rent is said to have been paid by his cousin Elizabeth II, up to £120,000 a year, until 2010, when he was pressured by public opinion to pay it himself.