Rarely-seen royal with staggering wealth and lavish home had rent paid for by late Queen

Kensington Palace has been called home by a number of prominent royals over the years, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and the late Princess Diana.

And there is one lesser known member of the family who continues to reside at the Palace - Prince Michael of Kent.

First cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth, the 81-year-old is 52nd in line to the throne and a non-working royal. According to Yahoo Finance, he has a staggering net worth of £32 million - more than Princess Kate, Princess Anne, and Prince Edward all combined.

Prince Michael and Princess Michael currently live in Apartment 10 at Kensington Palace, a five-bedroom, five-reception room apartment. The couple have lived in the palace since the Seventies and were once neighbours with Princess Diana, who lived next door at combined Apartment 8 and 9.

The wealthy couple came under fire in the early 2000s when details emerged about their Kensington Palace rent. They were scrutinised by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, and the rent on their Kensington Palace apartments was found to be just £69 per week. The committee called for the Queen to evict her cousins and charge a market rate to rent the property.

However, Buckingham Palace defended the decision and released a statement in support of the royal couple. It read: "The Queen is paying the rent for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's apartment at a commercial rate of £120,000 annually, from her own private funds.

"This rent payment by The Queen is in recognition of the Royal engagements and work for various charities which Prince and Princess Michael of Kent have undertaken at their own expense, and without any public funding."

At the time, the Kents also said the use of Apartment No 10 was a wedding gift from the Queen. However in 2008, it was announced Prince and Princess Michael would take over paying the full rent on the property.

While Prince Michael isn't considered a working member of the Royal Family, he is still involved in around 100 charities and organisations. He also undertakes around 200 public working engagements for the charity sector, funded by his own household, The Express reports.

The prince's charitable deeds range from his interest in transport to his passion for Russia, including when he led a rally of Bentleys from Brooklands Museum in the UK to Moscow, raising more than £25K for the Children's Fire and Burns Trust.

He married Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz - known today as Princess Michael of Kent - in 1978 and the pair have two children together, Oxford-educated banker Lord Frederick Windsor, and Lady Gabriella Kingston, whose husband, Thomas Kingston, tragically passed away in February.

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