No fewer than ten British royals live at Kensington Palace, but there’s no guarantee they all get along. In fact, Princess Michael of Kent, a cousin-in-law of Queen Elizabeth, might be something of a social pariah because of an ill-advised choice of jewelry she wore this past December.

You see, Princess Michael set off a scandal when she wore a blackamoor brooch to the Queen’s Christmas luncheon last year, an event also attended by Meghan Markle, who is biracial. (Blackamoor jewelry portrays black figurines, often in positions of servitude, per Town & Country.) Princess Michael was “very sorry and distressed” by the controversy, her spokesperson told TMZ, and she vowed to retire the brooch.

princess michael of kent getty images

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Still, the incident did nothing to help Princess Michael’s reputation, which has been dogged by racism accusations for years. At an NYC restaurant in 2004, for example, she reportedly told a group of black diners to “go back to the colonies,” according to The New York Times.

When she addressed that controversy on ITV and denied that she’s racist, she only dug herself in deeper. “I even pretended years ago to be an African, a half-caste African, but because of my light eyes I did not get away with it, but I dyed my hair black,” she said in that interview. “I traveled on African buses. I wanted to be a writer. I wanted experiences from Cape Town to right up in northern Mozambique. I had this adventure with these absolutely adorable, special people, and to call me racist, it’s a knife through the heart because I really love these people.”

princess michael of kent getty images

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Born Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz, the now-73-year-old married into the royal family in 1978 when she tied the knot with Prince Michael of Kent, the nephew of King George VI and a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth. Her marriage to Michael actually took him out of the line of succession — since, at the time, no one who married a Roman Catholic could succeed to the throne — but he’s back in line thanks to 2013’s Succession to the Crown Act. The couple has two children: Lord Frederick Windsor, 38, and Lady Gabriella Windsor, 36.

And Princess Michael has sparked many other controversies in her four decades as a royal, People recently reported. She called Princess Diana “uneducated” in 2014, for example; and the following year, she claimed animals don’t have rights. (We imagine Kate Middleton’s dog Lupo might beg to differ!)

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