It’s no secret that the royal family is pretty big, and there are many layers of royal cousins that stand on the balcony at Trooping the Colour, or make a big splash at royal weddings. The benefit of being a second or third cousin is that they get to live life without the royal pressures, but with much of the glamour associated - think less famous versions of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. They can work their connections for solid real jobs, model, sit front row at fashion shows, get their weddings and new babies in the papers, but they aren’t bound to the same restrictions.

I’ve chosen one of my favorite set of royal cousins to look at today - the glamorous children of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Lord Frederick and Lady Gabriella Windsor.

We haven’t done a deep dive yet on Prince and Princess Michael of Kent (mostly because I don’t like them that much…) but Prince Michael is the Queen’s first cousin, who is a very part-time working royal. They live in Kensington Palace and are present for all of the big royal events. Notorious snobs, Princess Michael (who was born a German Baroness) was the one that wore the blackamoor brooch to the Queen’s pre-Christmas lunch when Meghan first attended, and is rumored to be referred to as “Princess Pushy” by Princess Anne. Their two kids seem much more down to earth and like they are close with their royal second cousins.

Lord Frederick Windsor and Sophie Winkelman

Freddie (as he is known) works in finance at JPMorgan and is the 50th in line for the throne. He was actually the first British royal to marry an actress (!!!), Sophie Winkleman. She’s pretty successful - I mainly know her from playing Susan in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe remake, but she has been in a ton of British TV and is still acting today.

They have two children, Maud (who is Princess Eugenie’s goddaughter and was a bridesmaid in her wedding) and Isabella (who has Jamie Oliver as a godfather).

Freddie was very much a party boy in his younger years and Sophie seems to have tamed his wild ways. They also had a totally over the top and wild wedding that Princess Michael very much took the reigns on and it got a ton of not so positive press. The senior royals did not attend, but that was rumored to be more of an indictment of the parents than the children.

Lady Gabriella (Windsor) Kingston

Lady Gabriella is 54th in line for the throne, and I think she is gorgeous - she has a more natural, British, Ivanka look?

She attended Brown University in Providence double majoring in Comparative Literature and Hispanic studies, and got an “MPhil” degree in Social Anthropology at Oxford - she now works as a Senior Director at Branding Latin America. She is also a singer and has released a few songs under the name Ella - the first of which she performed at her wedding.

Lady Gabriella got married exactly one year after Prince Harry and Meghan, at the same location, St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where we just saw Prince Philip’s funeral. Because of the location on a royal property, many of the royals did attend, including the Queen and Prince Philip, Prince Harry, Princess Anne, Prince Edward, Prince Andrew, Sarah Ferguson and Princess Eugenie, plus the whole Middleton clan. She wore a Russian Fringe style diamond tiara, which was also worn by her paternal grandmother, HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, and her mother, for their weddings. Her husband Thomas Kingston works in finance and they seem to lead a fairly low key life.