Revealed: The royal who wanted to 'shoot' Queen Elizabeth's corgis
She received her very first corgi, Susan, as a birthday present in 1944 when she turned 18, and went on to own more than 30 of Susan's descendants.
However, one member of the royal family once revealed her disdain for the Queen's precious pooches.
Princess Michael of Kent, who was once reportedly banned from giving interviews because of her propensity to make controversial comments, was apparently not a fan of the royal dogs.
The wife of Prince Michael of Kent, a grandson of King George V, caused a stir in 2014 when she branded older royals as 'boring' and Princess Diana 'uneducated'.
Princess Michael, 80, was promoting her book at the time and made the shocking comments during an interview on Canadian TV with convicted fraudster and former newspaper tycoon Conrad Black.
But it seems her habit of speaking without a filter extends to her family members as well, and she allegedly made a quip about Elizabeth's dogs that went unappreciated.
She went on to own 30 of Susan's descendants throughout her life and the dogs remained her close companions until her death in 2022
According to author Karen Dolby's book, The Wicked Wit of Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Michael was once asked what she thought of the monarch's corgis.
Shockingly, the 80-year-old is believed to have said that the corgis 'should be shot'.
Such a comment would no doubt have taken the Queen aback, but Her Majesty was said to have kept her cool.
Instead, she replied with the ultimate comeback. According to the book, Elizabeth quipped back: 'They're better behaved than she is.'
Princess Michael, who has earned a reputation of being 'Princess Pushy', has made more than her fair share of outrageous gaffes over the years.
She was born into Silesian nobility as a member of the Reibnitz family, whose ancestral seat was Rybnica in current-day Poland, and married into the British Royal Family in 1978.
She is alleged to have once claimed she had 'more royal blood' than any other person who had married into the Royal Family 'since Prince Philip'.
According to reports, this declaration caused the late Queen to joke that Princess Michael was 'a bit too grand for us'.
Princess Michael also allegedly described Princess Diana as 'that silly girl next door' and branded the Duchess of York as 'common'.
In 2004, she was accused of racially insulting a group of Black patrons at a restaurant in New York by allegedly telling them to 'go back to the colonies' because they were too noisy for her liking.
Princess Michael denied making the racist insult, although her spokesperson did confirm she had been angered by the noise being made at the table next to her.
Before marrying Prince Michael, she was married to Thomas Troubridge, an Old Etonian banker who died in 2015.
They wed in 1971, when Princess Michael was known as Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, but the marriage did not last and they separated in 1973. It was annulled in 1978.
After her divorce, Marie-Christine obtained an annulment in the hope that the Pope would allow her to marry Prince Michael in a Roman Catholic ceremony.
While this was initially refused, the couple went on to tie the knot in Vienna Town Hall in 1978.
However, the Pope eventually annulled the marriage, allowing them to have a Roman Catholic ceremony in 1983 at Archbishop's House near Westminster Cathedral.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Rhyl Journal
15 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
Davina McCall ‘not afraid of dying' after brain tumour removed
In April, the 57-year-old confirmed her 'final MRI' had showed a colloid cyst, which she had removed in November 2024, is 'not coming back', after it was found when she was offered a health check-up as part of her menopause advocacy work. McCall told Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast: 'I am not afraid of dying anymore and it was the biggest journey of my life. From August 23 to November 24 was an amazing time where something changed. 'Begin Again, the podcast I started to help other people on their journey of living a life that they love enough to feel on their deathbed, whenever that may be, that I have no regrets. 'I have lived the life I wanted, and I'm not lying there going, 'I wish I'd done that thing, wish I'd done that job, I wish I'd not stayed in this relationship', all of those I haven't lived the life I want (things), and Begin Again is about just begin again and live the life you want.' McCall, who is a judge on ITV singing show The Masked Singer, said her only concern about death is how her family would cope. Speaking about the time her tumour was found, she added: 'I thought I need to get my brain in the right place and that was to a place where I could be calm, and what did I need to do to do that? Were my kids going to be okay if I didn't make it? That's all I really cared about. 'I knew Michael (Douglas, her partner), Michael's a whole person, Michael's Michael, but I was really worried about my kids. 'I went forensic on thinking about my children and where they were at in their life, what stage they were at. You're only as happy as your unhappiest child, right? 'I came to a realisation after about six months of cross-examining them about their life and telling them the whole time how much I've loved my life. My eldest daughter kept caught on. She was like, 'you are not dying', I was like, 'no, no, no', I realised that they would be great. 'They'd miss me and I want to be with them but they would be okay. I felt like I could go to sleep on the operating table and know that they were all here to help me, but I can let go of the outcome and it was the best gift. I am not afraid of dying.' After her surgery, McCall spent time in intensive care before recovering at home with the help of Douglas. She spoke about the removal of the tumour while co-presenting this year's Red Nose Day for Comic Relief and said it was 'the hardest thing I've ever been through'. According to the NHS, non-cancerous brain tumours are more common in people over the age of 50, and symptoms include headaches, vision problems and drowsiness, and some can be 'difficult to remove without damaging surrounding tissue'. McCall, the host of reality dating show My Mum, Your Dad, has long advocated for women's health issues, and has presented a documentary called Sex, Myths And The Menopause and another on contraception called Davina McCall's Pill Revolution. She became an MBE in the King's birthday honours for services to broadcasting in 2023 and was given a special recognition gong at the National Television Awards in 2024 for her broadcasting career. The full interview can be listened to on the Happy Place with Fearne Cotton podcast.
Leader Live
an hour ago
- Leader Live
Davina McCall ‘not afraid of dying' after brain tumour removed
In April, the 57-year-old confirmed her 'final MRI' had showed a colloid cyst, which she had removed in November 2024, is 'not coming back', after it was found when she was offered a health check-up as part of her menopause advocacy work. McCall told Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast: 'I am not afraid of dying anymore and it was the biggest journey of my life. From August 23 to November 24 was an amazing time where something changed. 'Begin Again, the podcast I started to help other people on their journey of living a life that they love enough to feel on their deathbed, whenever that may be, that I have no regrets. 'I have lived the life I wanted, and I'm not lying there going, 'I wish I'd done that thing, wish I'd done that job, I wish I'd not stayed in this relationship', all of those I haven't lived the life I want (things), and Begin Again is about just begin again and live the life you want.' McCall, who is a judge on ITV singing show The Masked Singer, said her only concern about death is how her family would cope. Speaking about the time her tumour was found, she added: 'I thought I need to get my brain in the right place and that was to a place where I could be calm, and what did I need to do to do that? Were my kids going to be okay if I didn't make it? That's all I really cared about. 'I knew Michael (Douglas, her partner), Michael's a whole person, Michael's Michael, but I was really worried about my kids. 'I went forensic on thinking about my children and where they were at in their life, what stage they were at. You're only as happy as your unhappiest child, right? 'I came to a realisation after about six months of cross-examining them about their life and telling them the whole time how much I've loved my life. My eldest daughter kept caught on. She was like, 'you are not dying', I was like, 'no, no, no', I realised that they would be great. 'They'd miss me and I want to be with them but they would be okay. I felt like I could go to sleep on the operating table and know that they were all here to help me, but I can let go of the outcome and it was the best gift. I am not afraid of dying.' After her surgery, McCall spent time in intensive care before recovering at home with the help of Douglas. She spoke about the removal of the tumour while co-presenting this year's Red Nose Day for Comic Relief and said it was 'the hardest thing I've ever been through'. According to the NHS, non-cancerous brain tumours are more common in people over the age of 50, and symptoms include headaches, vision problems and drowsiness, and some can be 'difficult to remove without damaging surrounding tissue'. McCall, the host of reality dating show My Mum, Your Dad, has long advocated for women's health issues, and has presented a documentary called Sex, Myths And The Menopause and another on contraception called Davina McCall's Pill Revolution. She became an MBE in the King's birthday honours for services to broadcasting in 2023 and was given a special recognition gong at the National Television Awards in 2024 for her broadcasting career. The full interview can be listened to on the Happy Place with Fearne Cotton podcast.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Meghan Markle aides who accused her of bullying were frightened of 'what she would do to them' because of her 'infinite capacity for revenge', veteran royal correspondent claims
Royal aides who accused Meghan Markle of bullying were frightened of 'what she would do to them' after they spoke out, it was claimed today. The Duchess of Sussex's staff were left 'in a psychologically delicate state' and 'viewed her capacity for revenge as infinite', an expert has alleged. Meghan, 43, has always denied the allegations of bullying while she was working as a royal, which she described as an orchestrated smear campaign against her. Veteran royal correspondent Valentine Low broke the bullying story in May 2021, just before Harry and Meghan were to appear on screen with Oprah Winfrey to discuss Megxit. He claims that some of the royal staff who had worked with the Sussexes were still in a 'very fragile state' more than two years later - and despite the royal couple having emigrated 5,000 miles away to the US. 'They were very worried about what Meghan would do to them. They viewed her capacity for revenge as infinite', Mr Low said. 'They'd left the employ of the Royal Family and they still were in a psychologically delicate state as a result of what happened to them at that time'. He added: 'If they [the Sussexes] were difficult to work for then, they're difficult to work for now'. Mr Low was speaking to American royal commentator Kinsey Schofield's Unfiltered YouTube show. He told her that he believes that Harry and Meghan tried to stop and then discredit his story detailing allegations of bullying, adding that he believes that the fact they have lost 25 staff since 2017 shows they remain tough to work for. ''It was a very important factor, the litigious nature of Harry and Meghan. I had sight of various bits of documentary evidence. I saw things which totally backed up the story. I had utter confidence', he said. 'Before publication we put the allegations to Harry and Meghan and we got a very very long letter from their lawyers. Sometime later we got another slightly less long letter from their lawyers. It was very very feisty, very strong, saying basically "watch out". 'Then we published and after that we didn't hear a word from them'. Valentine said the story had to be published before the Oprah interview. 'If the story had come out after the Oprah interview, it would have just looked like sour grapes. It'd be lost in the noise. Meghan would come across as this this heroine, this person who'd been victimised', he said. 'The whole narrative would be about what she and Harry said about their experiences with the royal family. It would just get lost and no one would really care. 'You look back to the Diana years. Stories had come out that the marriage was in trouble. No-one knew for certain until Andrew Morton's book came out. People then realised that it was the truth. 'That is what happened with my bullying story'. He said when a newspaper ran the Meghan bullying story and 'doesn't get sued' it means 'there's probably something in it and suddenly you realise all those tabloid stories earlier suggesting she might be Duchess Difficult, actually maybe they're true'. A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex accused Mr Low of 'recycling false, offensive, and long-discredited allegations' and spreading 'harmful gossip'. 'These claims—rooted in anonymous, unverifiable sources—form part of a broader and deeply troubling agenda that seeks to dehumanise a woman who has consistently stood up for fairness, dignity, and truth', they said. The spokesman said Meghan 'has faced years of unfounded attacks' part of a 'never-ending smear campaign'. 'Meghan remains undeterred by the noise and firmly focused on her family and work', the spokesman said. Jason Knauf, who is CEO of Prince William's Earthshot Prize, was once exceptionally close to the exiled couple. The New Zealander was one of just two people Harry told he was proposing to Meghan before they fell out over the Duchess' alleged poor treatment of staff. He and his colleagues have since been dubbed the 'Sussex Survivors'. He quit the royal household after accusing the Duchess of Sussex of mistreating two colleagues and undermining their confidence. Meghan has been haunted by claims she bullied royal staff - and Mr Knauf has repeatedly stood by his claims. In February this year, Jason insisted he 'wouldn't change a thing' and has 'no regrets' after he accused Meghan Markle of bullying staff 'out of the royal household'. In his first TV interview he stood by his complaint about the alleged 'totally unacceptable' behaviour of the Duchess of Sussex that leaked just before the couple's Oprah interview in 2021. 'The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights', he had written in an 2018 email where he accused Meghan of 'bullying' and undermining the confidence of two staff. Harry later addressed the bullying claims in the Sussexes' Netflix docu-series, saying it was false and all the result of him and Meghan speaking truth to power. 'I can't think what my mum went through all those years ago by herself', he said. 'To see this institutional gaslighting that happens, it's extraordinary. And that's why everything that has happened to us was always going to happen to us because if you speak truth to power, that's how they respond'. Jason quit the royal household in 2021 but in April this year Prince William made him CEO of his beloved Earthshot Prize. Mr Knauf, a New Zealander who worked as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 's press secretary, appeared in a new documentary for 60 Minutes Australia, Where There's A Will - broadcast four months ago. In 2018, he had sent an internal email raising concerns about Meghan's alleged poor treatment of staff in the royal family, which was later leaked after Megxit. 'I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of X was totally unacceptable,' he allegedly wrote. 'The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights. She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behaviour towards Y.' He also said the estrangement between Prince Harry and Prince William has been 'hard and sad' but added that William has chosen to be 'private' about it. Jason was made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 2023 - showing how good the relationship still is. And then he returned to work for William this year. The Duchess of Sussex, 43, has always denied the allegations of bullying, which she described an orchestrated smear campaign against her. Harry and Meghan's spokesman said at the time: 'Let's just call this what it is-a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation.' There was also a statement to the media calling the bullying claims defamatory. Buckingham Palace launched an internal review into the bullying claims, but the findings were never made public. Prior to their disagreement, Jason said he'd had 'great times' working with the Sussexes, and said their 2018 Windsor wedding was a 'magical experience'. He said: 'We had lots of great times, working on their wedding was an amazing magical experience and I wish them absolutely all the best with their lovely family.' Writing in his biography about the staff who serve the royals - titled Courtiers - author Valentine Low said the palace 'needed evidence of the duty of care the organisation had showed them [the Sussexes]'. Mr Low wrote that Meghan was already leaving a 'trail of evidence behind, so that when the time came for them [Harry and Meghan] to leave the monarchy, she would be able to say: look how they failed to support me'. Such as when Meghan went to HR for help and was given a 'sympathetic hearing' but the department was ultimately there to deal with 'employee issues, not members of the Royal Family'. Samantha Cohen and other courtiers were aware of bullying allegations lodged against the Sussexes as early as 2018. 'Samantha The Panther', as she was known, told Australian media that she was one of ten staff members interviewed by the Palace following the complaints. However, it was Meghan that won in the battle to air her grievances first when - according to Mr Low - she 'hijacked the narrative by making it all about her mental health' and all the things royal staff had done to help the couple succeed were forgotten, allowing Meghan to point out all the times they had failed her. These failures were then singled out for millions to see during the Sussexes' interview with Oprah in 2021. Among her claims that concerns about her mental health were not taken seriously by staff, the couple also said separately that the Royal Family was racist. Producer and journalist Jane Marie, who worked with Harry and Meghan during the development of Archewell Audio projects, insisted to Vanity Fair that Meghan is 'just a lovely, genuine person'. Other staff members have claimed that she would send her employees gifts ranging from dog leashes to skincare products. These wildly varying accounts of the work culture Meghan presides over are supported by a source that worked with her in the run-up to her wedding in 2018, who said she was 'lovely when it is all going her way but a demon when the worm turns'.
