[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Beavering away

[Shaun Hately]

On 17 May 2003 at 22:21, Catlady (Rita Prince Winston) wrote:

> Is there a Princess with the given name Michael? Not Michal (the 
> latter is a Bibical name, the wife of David who laughed at him when 
> he danced before the Ark, and I've never met anyone who knows how to 
> pronounce it)? Not knowing anything about these people, I would have 
> assumed that "Princess Michael of Kent" was the wife of Prince 
> Michael of Kent, the same way Harriet Vane's married name was Lady 
> Peter Wimsey, called Lady Peter.

And you would be correct.

Princess Michael of Kent's real name is Marie-Christine von Reibnitz. She is a Princess 
by marriage to the Blood Royal and hence takes her husbands title. Basically a women 
marrying a British Prince is only a Princess in her own right *if* she was a Princess to 
start with. Princess Michael (IIRC) was a Baroness (German?). As Prince Michael of 
Kent has no other titles, she couldn't become 'Duchess of...' or 'Countess of...' as other 
women marrying into the Royal Family have.



Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately |webpage: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       |email: drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200

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