Royal duties
As the second son of King George V's fourth son, Prince Michael of Kent was never expected to undertake royal and official duties. Prince Michael has never received a parliamentary annuity or an allowance from the Privy Purse. Even so, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent represented The Queen at the independence celebrations in Belize and at the Coronation of King Mswati III of Swaziland. Prince Michael also supports a large number of different charities and organisations, and Princess Michael supports him in this work.
The couple have the use of a grace and favour apartment at Kensington Palace. On their behalf, The Queen is paying the rent for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's apartment at a commercial rate of £120,000 annually from her own private funds. The rent goes to the Grant-in-aid, provided by the Government for the maintenance of the Occupied Royal Palaces. The rent is based on the current rate for commercially rented properties at Kensington Palace, and is recorded in the overall figures for commercial rents, in the Grant-in-aid annual report. This rent payment by the Queen is "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," according to a statement released by the British Monarchy Media Centre.
In 2008, it was announced that to continue living from 2010 in their previously-subsidised Apartment 10, Prince and Princess Michael would be required to begin paying rent of £120,000 a year, the market rate of the five-bedroom, five-reception flat and many times more than the nominal amount of £70 per week they had been paying for the previous seven years. Queen Elizabeth II had previously been subsidising the £10,000 a month cost for the Kents to use their flat. Members of Parliament on the palace's committee had demanded the change after the Kents' rent had come to light. The Kents have lived in the apartment since 1979, only paying their utility bills prior to 2002.
Personal interest in the Catholic religious life and the Papal visit of 2010
Princess Michael of Kent attended several events during the historic Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the United Kingdom in September 2010. She was present at the mass at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday, 18 September, where she was seated in the first row among other dignitaries, including Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor, the Duke of Norfolk and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. After the mass, they met the Pope. On Sunday, on the last day of the visit, 19 September, she attended the open-air mass of beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Cofton Park, Birmingham. Princess Michael of Kent was personally involved in the Beatification process and attended several other celebrations related to the Beatification before and after the mass in Cofton Park, including a commemorative concert of the Dream of Gerontius at Town Hall Birmingham on 18 September. She also attended a civic dinner with invited dignitaries and bishops in Birmingham, before attending the mass and meeting the Pope . Previously, in November 2008, the Princess attended the translation of remains of Cardinal Newman at his Birmingham Oratory, along with other guests of honour, including Francis Campbell, the British Ambassador to the Holy See, the Lord Mayor of Birmingham and Lady Mayoress, Sir Ivor Roberts, the President of Trinity College, Sir Derek Morris, the Provost of Oriel College, Oxford, and the former British Ambassador to Italy. After the translation mass, Princess Michael, was was shown round Cardinal Newman's Room and Chapel and visited Newman's library. Except of Earl and Countess of St Andrews and Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor, who are members of the extended Royal Family, Princess Michael was the only member of the British Royal Family who took part in the Papal visit of 2010, except the state welcome by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburg at the first visit in Edinburgh. Another Catholic member of the Royal Family, Katherine, Duchess of Kent did not attend.
Author
The princess is the author of three books,
Crowned in a Far Country: Eight Royal Brides (Weidenfeld), and
Cupid and the King - Five Royal Paramours (Harper Collins) and in 2004 released
The Serpent and The Moon, a true sizzling story of love and betrayal in a royal family. She also writes a society column for www.bestselections.com, an on-line shopping website.
Before her marriage to Prince Michael, she was an interior decorator. According to a report in The Observer's Pendennis column in September 2007, she has taken up this career again due to looming financial pressures. Since early 2007 the Princess has been President of Partridge Fine Art, a gallery in London's New Bond Street.