Prince Michael of Kent, born in 1942, is the paternal first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II Since 1978 Prince Michael is wedded to former Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz. Prince Michael joined the British Army in 1961 and served in Germany, Hong Kong and Cyprus. He left the army in 1981 and has now got his own consultancy business which operates all over the world. Besides that, he is also a qualified interpreter of Russian as he has always had a strong interest in Russia and speaks the language fluently.