It’s already proving to be an eventful Christmas for the Royal Family as one of their number has taken a shocking fall just days before the festive period.
2024 has seen the ruling clan face one health scare after another — most notably King Charles and Kate Middleton’s dual cancer diagnoses, but also more recently a bout of pneumonia that kept Queen Camilla partially out of action for several weeks. Even for those who haven’t suffered a physical malady, the stressful year has done a number on their mental health, as Prince William has opened up about how 2024 has been the “hardest year” of his life.
So it’s only characteristic for the family’s year that the lead-up to Christmas should involve another thing going awry, although thankfully the royal in question has recovered well after taking what could’ve been an extremely nasty tumble.
Princess Michael of Kent attends King Charles’ Christmas lunch with her wrists in splints after scary fall
Princess Michael of Kent caused tongues to wag when she showed up at King Charles’ annual pre-Christmas family lunch, hosted at Buckingham Palace on Thursday, Dec. 19, with both of her wrists in splints.
Princess Michael — also known as Baroness Marie-Christine — reportedly broke both of her wrists when she fell down the stairs at her home, Kensington Palace, which she shares with her husband, Prince Michael of Kent. The 79-year-old princess is said to have been walking down the steps with an armful of overcoats when she became unbalanced due to their weight and tripped. Putting her hands in front of her on impact, she broke multiple small bones in both of her wrists.
Speaking to Majesty Magazine, the princess admitted that her injury is causing serious upheaval to her everyday life. “So many things that you rely on being able to do, like cleaning your teeth, are impossible,” she lamented. “I am told that, after an accident like this, if you do one wrong movement on top of the unhealed bones, you are back where you started.”
Generally not one to claim the limelight, Princess Michael is usually most known for her unusual name. Born Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz, she had to take both her husband’s title and his forename upon their marriage due to an old-fashioned quirk of the British peerage system. Prince Michael, 82, is the grandson of George V and, because Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were both related to him, he’s simultaneously a second cousin and first cousin once removed to Charles.
Princess Michael made it to the king’s lunch despite her broken wrists, but in a surprising move his own son and daughter-in-law couldn’t. William and Kate canceled on the occasion at the last minute as they were already in Norfolk ahead of their Christmas celebrations last week. The core royals — not including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, of course — will be celebrating on Dec. 25 at the king’s estate at Sandringham. Let’s hope the big day itself goes off without a hitch.