Gabriella married Thomas Kingston in May 2019 in a lavish ceremony at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. She was the third royal to marry in the chapel over the previous year. Princess Eugenie wed Jack Brooksbank in the venue last October, while Meghan Markle and Prince Harry married in May 2018. Previously known as Lady Gabriella Windsor, she is now referred to as Lady Gabriella Kingston and is the Queen’s cousin once removed, making her 52nd-in-line to the throne.

The Queen herself and Prince Philip attended the ceremony, as did Prince Harry. They had a huge eight-tiered cake – which the couple cut with a sword – and Lady Gabriella gave an emotional speech about the importance of family.

In a 1984 episode of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Princess Michael admitted what she had in mind for her only daughter’s future when talking about her children.

Programme host Roy Plomley said: “You mentioned your children, you have two – Lord Frederick Windsor, how old is he?”

She said: “He’s four, and then I have my little Gabriella, who we call Ella, and she’s two. They’re both April babies but she’s an Aries and he’s Taurus.”

Princess Michael then joked how their different star signs mean she might “have trouble” with her daughter, but then explained: “She’s such a good little girl. She’s the image incidentally of my mother-in-law.”

Prince Michael of Kent’s mother was Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. She married Prince George, Duke of Kent, King George V’s son. She was renowned for her style and was the last foreign princess to marry into the Royal family prior to Meghan.

Mr Plomley asked: “Is she?”

Princess Michael replied: “At this age, my sister-in-law tells me anyway. So I have hopes of a great beauty in the family.”

Lady Gabriella’s father is Prince Michael of Kent, who is the Queen’s first cousin. He was seventh-in-line to the throne at birth but is now 48th in the line of succession. 

His own marriage to the then-Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz was controversial at the time, as she had been married before to an Englishman called Thomas Troubridge. 

She was also a Catholic, and so their marriage had to be ecclesiastically annulled in 1978 by the Pope before she could marry Prince Michael.

In the podcast, Princess Michael revealed the extra lengths the two had to go to in order to marry only one month after her annulment.

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Mr Plomley said: “You were a Roman Catholic and a divorcee, so a church wedding at that time would have been impossible.”

She explained: “Well we thought a church wedding would be possible. It certainly would be possible in the Catholic church because after all my first marriage had been annulled by Pope Paul VI.

“The problem arose in that Prince Michael could not have Catholic children. 

“This was, in fact, after the second Vatican council this was no longer a great obstacle, but there were problems of communication between the English Catholic Church. 

“And it was going to take a little longer than the one month of engagement that we had allowed ourselves to explain this to the English Catholics who were up in arms, thinking that because if our children could be anglican why was it that they felt under pressure to have Catholic children?

“In fact, this situation has never changed. Our marriage was convalidated recently. Our children are very much remaining Anglican, and I very much wish to remain and shall remain a Catholic.”

Princess Michael is believed to have had several spats with other royals during her time within ‘The Firm’. She and Princess Diana both lived on Kensington Palace estate, and Diana reportedly used to play pranks on her neighbour.

Princess Anne also fell out with Princess Michael and often branded her ‘Princess Pushy’.

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