PRINCE OF KENT VISITING ST. PETERSBURG

Subscribe
ST. PETERSBURG, June 25 (RIA Novosti) - Prince Michael of Kent last night arrived in St. Petersburg for a visit, to run through June 27. Appearing before reporters ahead of a meeting with Mayor Valentina Matviyenko Friday, he said the objective of his current visit was to give to the British media an idea of what life in Russia and, specifically, in St. Petersburg was like.

Ms Matviyenko, for her part, reminded the reporters that this was not the first time Prince Michael of Kent had come to visit. People in St. Petersburg know him well and appreciate his love for the city and Russia at large as well as his efforts to promote Russo-British cooperation, the Mayor remarked.

The Prince is now in St. Petersburg specifically to attend the opening of an office of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce. Ms Matviyenko said she was hopeful that this very important event would give a boost to bilateral trade, something both St. Petersburg and the UK would see happen. The Mayor then took questions from reporters representing major British media. "Questions were friendly, amicable, but very in-depth in terms content. British journalists are well versed as far as life in Russia and St. Petersburg is concerned. I had the impression that I was speaking with Russian presspeople, not with Brits," she revealed to the Russian media afterwards.

During his sojourn in St. Petersburg, Prince Michael is expected to visit a machinery plant and to hold the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new office of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce, which he partonizes. On the cultural side, the member of the British royalty will drop in at the Russian Museum, St. Isaac's Cathedral, and the Institute of Russian Literature, make a trip to the suburban estate of Peterhoff, and show up at a White Nights ball at another former imperial retreat, Tsarskoye Selo.

As City Hall's PR department told RIA, Prince Michael of Kent paid his first visit to Russia in 1992 and to St. Pete, in1998. Back then, he attended in the foundation-stone laying ceremony to commemorate Peter I's sojourn in Portsmouth. The Prince has been to St. Petersburg on more than one occasion since that time. In 1998, he attended a reburial ceremony for Russian Emperor Nicholas II and members of his family; in 1999 and 2003, he came along to participate in charity races for vintage cars.

Prince Michael's special interest in Russia is put down to his kinship with the Romanov House. He is a direct descendant of Emperor Nicholas I and a grand nephew to Nicholas II. He contributes to various scientific, commercial, cultural, and charitable projects across Russia.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала