Princess Says SS Father Was Exonerated

Princess Michael of Kent, a member of the Royal Family by marriage, said in a TV interview today that she was deeply ashamed to learn that her father was a Nazi SS major, but she said he was exonerated of any war crimes.

“Here I am at 40 years old and I suddenly discover something that really is quite unpleasant. I shall just simply have to live with it,” she said in the interview with “TV-AM,” a breakfast show.

The princess, who is married to Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, said evidence was on its way to her from Germany proving her father was exonerated by the Allies at the end of World War II.

“I was desperately ashamed at first and then when I spoke with my brother, he explained to me (about) the document which exonerated my father from any activity which I have been brought up to believe that the SS (was involved in), basically concentration camps for Jews and so on,” she said.

Exonerated in Appeal

“TV-AM” said the princess stated she had been told that in 1948 the Allies’ Court of Appeal in Upper Bavaria cleared her father of war crimes.

“I have now discovered that he wasn’t involved with anything like that at all, so I am relieved to have discovered that. But, yes, it is a deep shame for me.”