Prince and Princess Michael of Kent are expected to announce their retirement from public life in the next few days, it has been revealed.
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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.
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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.
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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.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe couple attended Ascot this week
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 from Russia, in 2009 from 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 patron to organisations with close links to Russia like the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce and the St Gregory's Foundation.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe Prince and Princess have two children together
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.
