Congratulations to Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, who are celebrating their 42nd wedding anniversary. The couple were married on 30 June 1978 in a civil ceremony in Vienna, Austria. At the time, his bride went by the name Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz.
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Prince Michael, 77, is the grandson of King George V and Queen Mary, and therefore is a paternal first cousin to the Queen. Through his mother, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, he is also a first cousin once removed of Prince Philip. At the age of five, he acted as a page boy at the royal couple's 1947 wedding.
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Baroness Marie, meanwhile, is the only daughter of the Silesian nobleman Baron Gunther von Reibnitz and of his Austro-Hungarian wife, Countess Maria Szapáry de Muraszombath. At the time of her marriage to Prince Michael, she was not only a Roman Catholic, but also a divorcee.
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Prince and Princess Michael of Kent were married in 1978
She had previously been married to the banker Thomas Troubridge; they separated in 1973, divorced in 1977, and had their union annulled by the Roman Catholic Church a year later, two months before her marriage to Prince Michael.
The couple are parents to two children, Lord Frederick and Lady Gabriella
Michael presented Marie Christine with a two-stone sapphire-and-diamond ring made from stones that belonged to his mother, Princess Marina. Upon their marriage, she was accorded the style and title of Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent, the female equivalent to her husband's title. After receiving Pope John Paul II's permission, the couple later received a blessing of their marriage in a Roman Catholic ceremony on 29 June 1983 at Archbishop's House, London.
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Pictured with their granddaughters at Lady Gabriella's wedding
The couple are parents to two children. Lord Frederick Windsor, now 41, has been married to actress Sophie Winkleman since 2009, and together they share two daughters, Maud, six, and four-year-old Isabella. Lady Gabriella, 39, married her husband, Thomas Kingston, in May 2019.
