Prince Michael of Kent — royal and businessman with roots in the Russian Empire
Prince Michael of Kent was born at Coppins, Iver, in Buckinghamshire on 4 July 1942, the youngest child of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina. Seven weeks later his father was killed in a military air crash. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was among his godparents.
His Russian connection came through his mother's mother. Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna had been born at Tsarskoye Selo in 1882, a granddaughter of Alexander II; Nicholas II was her first cousin. Known in later life as Princess Nicholas of Greece, she interested her grandson in her native country, and Russia became the defining interest of his life.
He was educated at Sunningdale and Eton and at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and was commissioned into the 11th Hussars. In twenty years in the army he served in Germany and Hong Kong, with the United Nations force in Cyprus in 1971 and on the Defence Intelligence Staff, retiring as a major in 1981. In 1966 he attended a Russian course at what is now the Defence School of Languages at Beaconsfield, which included a period in Paris living with a White Russian family, and in 1968 he qualified as a military interpreter. He was the first member of the British royal family to learn Russian.
When remains believed to be those of Nicholas II and his family were recovered in 1991, scientists used DNA from living relatives to identify them; a sample from Prince Michael was among those used, alongside one from Prince Philip. In 1998 he attended the burial of the imperial family in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St Petersburg, representing the Queen, and in 2006 he attended the reburial there of Empress Maria Feodorovna. He is an honorary member of the Romanov Family Association.
He has run his own consultancy business, travelled frequently to Russia, served as patron of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce and, through his foundation, supported heritage, health and business-education projects there; he led charity rallies in Russia in 1999 and 2003. In 2009 President Dmitry Medvedev presented him with the Order of Friendship at the Kremlin. He returned the order in 2022.
He has carried out no official duties as a working royal but has represented the Queen abroad, including at state funerals. In 1978 he married Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz; their children are Lord Frederick Windsor and Lady Gabriella Kingston.
Tracing the roots — Tsarskoye Selo (grandmother)
His maternal grandmother, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, was born at Tsarskoye Selo, a granddaughter of Alexander II. He was the first member of the British royal family to learn Russian, qualified as a military interpreter in 1968, and gave a DNA sample used to identify the remains of Nicholas II's family.
Grandson of Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna (born Tsarskoye Selo, 1882), a granddaughter of Alexander II; Nicholas II was a first cousin of his grandmother.
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Tsarskoye Selo (grandmother). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.