Princess Michael Is No Cheetah
WHAT thoughts are passing through the Botox-laced head of Princess Michael of Kent as she cradles a cheetah’s face in her hands?
Unkind voices who misunderstand the Princess, the types that call her ‘Princess Pushy’ and remind the world that she was born Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida Freiin von Reibnitz and that her dad was in the Nazi Party, may suggest she is thinking of gloves or a fur trim for her winter monocle.
But we know better. Princess Michael looks at the cheetah because she cares about the cheetah. She and the cheetah are at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre in South Africa, one of the Princess’s “pet projects”.
Princess Michael is doing her bit by being there. “All I can do is encourage awareness,” says the Princess, who for the occasion wears a floor-length brown dress topped off by a matching jacket with billowy sleeves. “I can’t obviously give financial help, but it’s vital that people know what’s going on.”
Of course the Princess cannot give money; that would be tatty and most likely beneath her. No, her role is to raise awareness. If she cares about a cheetah, than so will we. (The money – 5.75million – she received from the sale of her country mansion Nether Lypiatt in Gloucestershire is neither of us to Princess nor beast.)
The Princess, now wearing a long black gown with a pashmina draped around her throat, is now asked by Hello! about those recent pictures of her strolling hand in hand through Venice in the company of Russian millionaire Mikhail Kravchenko.
The Princess says she and Mikhail share a “very good friendship”. She is designing a range of furniture for him. And as for walking hand in hand with him and staying in Venice’s Cipriani Hotel together? “I’m a very tactile person – I do it all the time,” says he. “Don’t forget I’m not English. English people maybe don’t behave like we Europeans do.”
Indeed, she is not English. The Princess was born Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, at Carlsbad in what is now the Czech Republic. Her father was a member of the Nazi…
Posted: 20th, July 2006 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
