Michael, Princess of Kent 1945- (Marie-Christine von Reibnitz)

views updated

Michael, Princess of Kent 1945- (Marie-Christine von Reibnitz)

PERSONAL:

Born Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, January 15, 1945, in Carlsbad, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic); daughter of Baron Gunther and Marianne von Reibnitz; married Thomas Troubridge, September 14, 1971 (divorced, 1977; marriage annulled, 1978); married Prince Michael of Kent, June 30, 1978; children: (second marriage) Frederick, Gabriella Windsor. Education: Attended Rose Bay Convent, School of the Sacred Heart, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Kensington Palace, London, England; Nether Lypiatt Manor, Gloucestershire, England. Agent—Suzanne Gluck, William Morris Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019; Andrew Lownie, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency, 17 Sutherland St., London SW1V 4JU, England.

CAREER:

Princess, lecturer, and author; appeared all over the world in support of charitable causes. Former owner of Szapar Designs, an interior design company.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Le Prix Histoire, French Minister of Culture, 2005, for The Serpent and the Moon: Two Rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King.

WRITINGS:

Crowned in a Far Country: Portraits of Eight Royal Brides, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1986, reprinted, Touchstone (New York, NY), 2007.

Cupid and the King: Five Royal Paramours, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1991, reprinted, Touchstone (New York, NY), 2006.

The Serpent and the Moon: Two Rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King, Touchstone (New York, NY), 2004.

Also author of foreword to Royal Visitors to Tunbridge Wells, by Don Foreman, Parapress, 1993.

SIDELIGHTS:

Princess Michael of Kent, a member of the British royal family, has published a number of works about aristocratic romances, including The Serpent and the Moon: Two Rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King. "I am not a qualified historian, but rather a teller of stories from history," the author noted on her Web site.

In Crowned in a Far Country: Portraits of Eight Royal Brides, Princess Michael explores the lives of European princesses who married abroad, including Catherine the Great, Marie Antoinette, and Eugénie, the Spanish wife of French emperor Napoleon. According to a critic in Publishers Weekly, "the brief forays into the realms of lesser-known royals don't leave readers eager for more." In Cupid and the King: Five Royal Paramours, the author profiles such figures as Madame Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV; actress Nell Gwyn, who bore King Charles II two sons; and Lola Montez, an exotic dancer who romanced Ludwig I of Bavaria. Princess Michael "creates an appealing melange of history, gossip and scandal" in the work, noted a Publishers Weekly contributor.

The Serpent and the Moon examines the love triangle between King Henri II of France, his wife, Catherine de' Medici, and his lover, Diane de Poitiers. "From the outset," wrote Toronto Globe and Mail contributor Leonie Frieda, "the author declares her enormous admiration and a sense of personal connection with Diane, ‘the Moon.’ Her antipathy for ‘the Serpent’—Catherine de Medici—is also strong." On her Web site, Princess Michael explained, "I hope to examine both women in detail so that the reader can know them within the kaleidoscopic fabric of their time," adding, "since I descend just as directly from Catherine de' Medici as I do from Diane de Poitiers, I have no personal interest in damning the one while glorifying the other." According to a Publishers Weekly critic, Princess Michael's "comprehensive research ensures that readers will get a solid picture of the three main players," and Frieda concluded, "the author's confidence and passion for her subject have inspired a hugely entertaining book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Globe and Mail (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), October 30, 2004, Leonie Frieda, "Royal Ménage," review of The Serpent and the Moon: Two Rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King, p. D12.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2004, review of The Serpent and the Moon, p. 621; November 1, 2006, review of Crowned in a Far Country: Portraits of Eight Royal Brides, p. 1117.

Publishers Weekly, June 21, 2004, review of The Serpent and the Moon, p. 50; October 31, 2005, review of Cupid and the King: Five Royal Paramours, p. 42; October 30, 2006, review of Crowned in a Far Country, p. 46.