As Prince Michael of Kent celebrates his 70th birthday this month, we look back at the life of our Patron and look forward to another year with his inimitable presence at the ICB Annual Awards Dinner.
"Bookkeeping remains the foundation of sound financial management. It is only by creating proper financial records that owners and managers can control their businesses and concentrate on finding and creating new business. I value very highly my role as ICB Patron."
Prince Michael of Kent
ICB 2011 Annual Dinner and Awards speech
HRH Prince Michael of Kent presenting a Luca Award to ICB Student of the Year 2011
Moolchand Dubey of Jupiter Bookkeepers
Prince Michael was born on 4th July 1942 and counts President Franklin D Roosevelt as one of his godfathers. When the Prince was only six weeks old, his father the Duke of Kent was killed in an aeroplane crash while on active service in World War II. The Duke of Kent was the fourth son of King George V and Prince Michael is first cousin to the Queen, with whom he shares this grandfather. When Prince Michael was 5 years' old he was a page boy at the Queen's marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh.
It is suspected that the Prince gets his dashing good looks from his Mother's line, and his Great Great Grandfather on this side was Tsar Alexander II. Prince Michael bears a particular resemblance to his distant cousin, Tsar Nicholas II.
The young Prince Michael went to Eton College and completed his education at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, later serving in the military for over twenty years.
In a civil ceremony in Austria in 1978, Prince Michael of Kent married glamorous German-born aristocrat Marie Christine. Upon marriage, she assumed the title of HRH Princess Michael of Kent, the female equivalent of her husband's title; had she been born a princess, her title would have been Princess Marie-Christine.
Since the Act of Settlement prohibits anyone who has married a Roman Catholic from succeeding to the throne, Prince Michael of Kent (at the time, 15th in the line of succession) lost his succession right upon his marriage. Despite this, the couple's two children retain their rights of succession and, after receiving the Pope's permission, the couple later married in a Roman Catholic ceremony on 29 June 1983.
Prince Michael and his wife do not officially carry out royal duties, nor are they in receipt of monies from the Civil List, although they have occasionally represented the Queen abroad.
Prince Michael will host this year's ICB Annual Awards Dinner at the world-famous Savoy Hotel. The awards dinner, which takes place on 6th November, celebrates the achievements of ICB members and students and is the opening event of this year's Bookkeepers Summit.
If you think that you or your business deserves an award, or you know anybody that deserves recognition within the profession, you can nominate them to receive a Luca Award from HRH Prince Michael himself at the ceremony.
If you are interested in applying or nominating, please contact the conference team at conference@icbglobal.org for a nomination form and meanwhile hear from last year's nominees in the videos below.