10 Interesting Facts about Princess Michael of Kent

Princess Michael of Kent. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Princess Michael of Kent endures the reputation of being one of the most colorful and controversial figures of the British Royal Family. Let's get to know her more as we take a look at the 10 interesting facts that make Princess Michael a larger-than-life figure.

1. Princess Michael is married to Prince Michael of Kent, the youngest son of Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece. The Duke of Kent is the fourth child of King George V and Queen Mary, thus, Prince Michael is the first-cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. On his mother's side, the prince is a first-cousin once-removed to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. 

2. Michael is not her name. It's Marie-Christine. In Great Britain, wives of the nobility and members of the royal family take the feminine form of their husband's title. Since her husband does not hold a title of nobility, unlike her brother-in-law the Duke of Kent, Marie-Christine, therefore, is styled HRH Princess Michael of Kent, the feminine form of her husband’s name and title. She cannot also call herself Princess Marie-Christine because she was not born a princess. 

3. Princess Michael stands 6 ft tall, making her the tallest member of the British Royal Family, excluding male members, of course. 

4. Princess Michael has authored six books: Crowned in a Far Country (1986), Cupid and the King (1991), The Serpent and The Moon: two rivals for the love of a Renaissance king (2004), The Queen Of Four Kingdoms (2013), Agnes Sorel: Mistress of Beauty (2014), and A Cheetah's Tale (2016). 

5. Princess Michael was born Baroness Marie Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida.

6. Princess Michael hails from an illustrious background of Bohemian (Czech) and Hungarian nobility. Her father was Baron Günther Hubertus von Reibnitz a cavalry officer of the German Empire during the First World War. Her mother was Countess Maria Anna Carolina Franziska Walpurga Bernadette Szapáry, a member of the Hungarian nobility. From her mother’s side, she is the grand-daughter of Princess Hedwig von Windisch-Graetz. Her maternal grandfather, Count Friedrich Szapáry von Muraszombath, Széchysziget und Szapár, was a diplomat, who served as the ambassador of Austria-Hungary in Saint Petersburg at the start of World War I.

7. Princess Michael is a working royal. She is an author, a lecturer, an art connoisseur at Galerie Gmurzynska in Switzerland, and runs her own interior design company.

8. Princess Michael's first husband was the English banker Thomas Troubridge, the younger brother of Sir Peter Troubridge, 6th Baronet.

9. Princess Michael was the first divorcee, after Wallis Simpson, to marry into the royal family. However, given Prince Michael's distance from the throne, their marriage did not cause much uproar.

10. Princess claims descent from Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henry II of France,  his wife Catherine de' Medici, and also from Peter Paul Rubens, the famous painter.