Prince and Princess
Michael of Kent are expected to announce their retirement from public life
in the next few days, it has been revealed.
The Queen’s cousin and his
wife are due to release an official statement in the next few weeks coinciding
with Michael’s 80th birthday, The Times has published.
The Prince, who turns 80 on 4
July, and his wife Marie-Christine, 77, have two children, Lord Frederick
Windsor, 43, and Lady Gabriella Kingston, 41, and attend about 200 engagements
a year.
The announcement will come
months after Prince Michael returned the Order of Friendship award he was given
by the Kremlin following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The news was confirmed in a
statement released in March that simply said: “I can confirm that HRH
Prince Michael of Kent is returning his Russian Order of Friendship. There will
be no further comment.” Michael was given the award, which is one of the
top awards in Russia, in 2009 by the then-Russian president, Dmitry
Medvedev.
Michael has close ties to
Russia, and through his grandmother, the Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, he
is related to the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II.
He attended the family’s
burial in 1998 and is also a patron to organisations with close links to Russia
like the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce and the St Gregory’s Foundation.
Princess Michael of Kent
temporarily retired from public engagements in 2020 after contracting COVID-19.
Her diagnosis was announced in November 2020 and she was not seen in public
again until May 2021.
According to The Sun, the
royal was recovering at her home at Kensington Palace after falling ill with
blood clots following her COVID-19 vaccinations, although it has not been
confirmed whether they were side effects of the jabs.
