ROYAL BIGOT: TELLS BLACK NYERS: 'GO TO COLONIES'

May 26, 2004 -- A prickly British princess sparked a tempest in a trendy West Village eatery when she lobbed a racist insult at a noisy table of influential black New Yorkers, fuming, "You need to go back to the colonies!" "I was stupefied," said fashion TV correspondent and p.r. consultant Nicole Young, one of the five diners on the receiving end of the royal rage of Princess Michael of Kent on Monday night at Da Silvano, at Sixth Avenue and Houston Street.

"I have never experienced anything like that in my life," said Young, who was dining with investment banker Merv Matheson, music honcho Philmore Anderson, BET and "Extra!" reporter A.J. Callaway and entertainment lawyer Tamera Reynolds.

The five believe the rude remarks from the royal referred to the heyday of British colonial rule and its efforts to "civilize the natives" in Africa and Asia.

Princess Michael told the diners she actually said "you should remember the colonies" — possibly a reference to the American colonies.

"I honestly couldn't believe something like this could happen in New York City. It was ridiculous," said Callaway.

"It's sad that, in today's world, people still have that mentality," added Matheson, who eats at Da Silvano at least three times a week.

"Maybe I've been lucky, but I've never run into that kind of racism in my life," Young said. "To think that this kind of thing could happen here — in 2004! We obviously have not come as far as we think we have."

The New Yorkers had been in the eatery two hours, chatting on and off with owner Silvano Marchetto, when Princess Michael was seated next to them around 10 p.m.

"We were loud, laughing and carrying on. But it's Da Silvano — it's a boisterous place," said Young.

Princess Michael, 59, is married to Prince Michael, first cousin of Queen Elizabeth.

Ten minutes after her arrival, Princess Michael suddenly "reached over and just slammed her open palm down on our table — the glasses moved, the table shook," Young recounted. "She said, 'Enough already! You need to quiet down!' "

"I was shocked," said banker Matheson. "It was like were in a school classroom."

After a few minutes of stunned silence, Matheson, Young and the others ignored the royal decree and continued their lively dinner — while the princess demanded a new table.

But as she left, she circled the offending commoners, leaned toward Callaway, pumped her fist and said, "You need to go back to the colonies!"

After the comment, mayhem erupted among other shocked diners in the room, and Young decided to confront the raging royal.

"That she would make a comment like that, in this day and age — I was fuming," said Young.

Marchetto and other witnesses said Young marched up to the princess' table and demanded, "What did you mean by that, 'back to the colonies?' "

"I did not say 'back to the colonies," Princess Michael retorted. "I said 'you should remember the colonies.' Back in the days of the colonies, there were rules that were very good.

Princess Michael, in the country to attend the graduation of her daughter, Lady Gabriella Windsor, from Brown University this weekend, did not respond to a request for comment made through her secretary in London.

"I felt awkward and uncomfortable, upset that someone would make an inappropriate comment like that to my customers," he said.

After Young's tense confrontation, the princess tried to summon Marchetto and a waiter, saying, "You need to remove her from this table."

"I tried to mediate the situation, and was happy it didn't get uglier," noted the restaurateur, who apologized to Matheson and the others for the princess' behavior.

"She obviously thinks she's in her country," Matheson said. "Well, this is our restaurant, not hers."

Here' more on her from the same paper:

HORRIFIED BRITS JUST KENT STAND THIS EUROTRASH

By BILL HOFFMANN

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May 26, 2004 -- If there's an equivalent to trailer trash in the British royal family, it would no doubt be the surly Princess Michael of Kent.
The Czech-born socialite, whose links to royalty are by marriage, has freeloaded off her connections for years — and repaid Buckingham Palace with an embarrassing litany of bad behavior and insensitive, foot-in-mouth remarks.

Living free of charge in a seven-bedroom apartment suite at Kensington Palace, to the chagrin of taxpayers, she's nonetheless made no secret of her contempt for the British public, once referring to them as "the wogs."

"The English love failure. Ambition is a dirty word in England," the princess sniffed.

It's no wonder that London papers have dubbed her "Pushy Galore" and "Her Royal Haughtiness," and consider her one of the biggest black sheep the royal family has had to endure.

Princess Michael was born Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, the daughter of a Nazi father who was a member of Germany's feared SS, a secret shame she hid, even from the royals, until the truth was bared by a newspaper report.

In the mid-'70s, following a failed marriage and a dye job from brunette to blonde, Marie-Christine met Prince Michael, younger brother of the Duke of Kent, and promptly latched on.

It was a costly move for the prince, who was forced to give up his place in the line of succession for the throne because his new wife was a Roman Catholic divorcee.

It also exposed the two to unwanted gossip: within a few years, the princess was rumored to be trysting with Texas oil scion John Ward Hunt and, later, the Earl of Suffolk.

But the pair, fueled by Princess Michael's love of wealth and privilege, continued to perform royal and semi-royal duties, as well as supplement their storied lifestyle by eagerly accepting lecturing fees and travel junkets.

The endless freebies they've enjoyed and cash they've collected has earned them the dubious nickname the "Rent-a-Kents" — but it's the princess who's the real shill of the royal name:

* When she penned a book on royalty, it led to accusations of plagiarism.

* She once demanded the Duchess of York and her daughters be booted out of first class on a flight to make room for her.

* As a guest of famed romance writer Barbara Cartland, the princess exploded when a shooting party left without her, screaming: "How dare they go without me! Don't they realize I'm royal?"

* She insulted supermodel Kate Moss, who had dated her son Lord Fredrick, saying she was no good for him, being "so flat-chested."

* Of the nation that has been so good to her, she said: "I will never become British even if I live here the rest of my life!"

* And as if to make good on those words of disdain, she ordered a garden kept by Princess Diana at Kensington Palace torn down — telling landscapers to rip out the shrubs and burn it until there were "no reminders" of the past.

"The offensiveness cuts both ways here."

That's the way I saw it.

No mention of the topic the boisterous table was boisterating about, though.

I wonder ... The Tony Blair/George Bush connection in the war? How foolish they are? and those Brits ... shouldn't they have stayed out of this?

ENOUGH! During colonial times, you people wouldn't have DARED to speak like that.

Just my supposition.

The 'news' is SO misleading, oftentimes.

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