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Act of Settlement of 1701, Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, Crown Act of 2013, Duke of Kent, Pope John Paul II, Pope Paul VI, Prince George, Prince Michael of Kent, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
HRH Prince Michael George Charles Franklin of Kent, GCVO, (July 4 1942:) a grandson of King George V & Queen Mary, younger son of HRH The late Duke of Kent (1902-42) & HRH Princess Marina of Greece & Denmark (1906-68). He turns 80 today.
Michael is the son of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. He is a paternal first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, being a grandson of King George V and Queen Mary.
Michael occasionally represents the Queen at some functions in Commonwealth realms outside the United Kingdom. Otherwise, he manages his own consultancy business and undertakes various commercial work around the world. He has also presented some television documentaries on the royal families of Europe.
On June 30, 1978, Prince Michael was married, at a civil ceremony, at the Rathaus, Vienna, Austria, to the German noblewoman Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz. After receiving Pope John Paul II’s permission (a previous pontiff, Pope Paul VI, had barred them from having a Catholic wedding), the couple later received a blessing of their marriage in a Catholic ceremony on June 29, 1983 at Archbishop’s House, London.
At the time of the marriage, Marie-Christine von Reibnitz was not only a Roman Catholic, but also a divorcée. She had been married to the banker Thomas Troubridge; they separated in 1973, divorced in 1977, and had their marriage annulled by the Catholic Church a year later, two months before her marriage to Michael.
Under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701, Michael forfeited his place in the line of succession to the throne through his marriage to a Catholic. He was reinstated to the line of succession on March 26, 2015 with the coming into force of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, and was 52nd in line to the throne.
European Royal History 