On Thursday 3rd July, Prince Michael visited Canterbury Cathedral in Kent to learn more about the conservation of the Cathedral. Under the supervision of the Surveyor to the Fabric, the Cathedral continues to be conserved by a permanent staff of masons and conservators, enabling the stonework to be preserved for future generations.

Whilst at the Cathedral, Prince Michael had a chance to visit the International Study Centre. Since St Augustine arrived in 597, Canterbury has been a focus for Christian mission and worship, and the Centre continues this work. His Royal Highness also visited Shelford Stone Works, which provides the stone for the re-pointing of the Cathedral.

In the afternoon, His Royal Highness visited Chatham Historic Dockyard to celebrate the completion of the restoration of HMS Gannet. The culmination of the process, which cost more than three million pounds, was symbolised by the raising of the foremast. The Historic Dockyard at Chatham contains approximately 100 buildings and structures, of which 47 are scheduled as Ancient Monuments. HMS Gannet (1878) is the only surviving sloop of the Victorian navy and one of only forty-nine ships in the official UK Core Collection. The Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, of which the Prince is Patron, operates the dockyard, which has been under development as a museum and tourism destination since the closure of the Royal Dockyard in Chatham in 1984.

On 8th July, Prince Michael chaired the 94th Annual Meeting of the General Council for the Royal Patriotic Fund, of which His Royal Highness is President, held at the State Apartments of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. That evening, Prince Michael accompanied Princess Michael to a photographic exhibition by David Chancellor in aid of Help the Aged, at the Association of Photographers Gallery. David Chancellor photographed celebrities and their closest family members for the Generations Exhibition.

Prince Michael attended the Service of Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Cessation of Hostilities in the Korean War on 9th July at Westminster Abbey. Some 100, 000 British troops served in Korea, many of them National Servicemen, together with Commonwealth forces from Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa. Overall, the United Nations forces suffered 142,000 casualties. Losses by the South Koreans were even more severe and exceeded 1 million people.

His Royal Highness visited the National Eye Research Centre at Bristol, of which the Prince is Patron, on Friday 11th July. Whilst at the Centre, His Royal Highness officially opened the newly refurbished Wolfson Laboratory and had the opportunity to meet some of the research staff. Later that afternoon, as Patron of the Stroud Valleys Project, Prince Michael launched the first session of the Greenleaf Mobile Centre at Cam in Gloucestershire. This drop-in centre is a mobile environmental resource facility, which will be located in a different venue each month. Visitors to the centre will be able to talk to environmental experts, browse through publications, and with the help of pupils from the local secondary school, surf the net. The theme for this drop-in centre was waste, so visitors can obtain ideas and advice about how to recycle waste, re-use materials and reduce the amount of rubbish produced. If it proves successful in Cam, Stroud Valleys Project will expand the project to provide a mobile drop-in centre for the rest of the district.

Prince Michael attended the 10th Anniversary of the unveiling of the Battle of Britain Memorial by Her Majesty The Queen Mother in Capel le Ferne, Kent on 13th July. Prince Michael inspected the Guard of Honour and laid a wreath (See above photograph: © Vic Seymour Photographic Service. Tel. 01303 275 477). His Royal Highness also unveiled a commemorative plaque. In maintaining the Memorial, The Battle of Britain Memorial Trust continues its work to ensure that the heroism of 1940 will be remembered for all time. The Memorial itself takes the form of an immense three bladed propeller, each blade 38 metres long, cut into the clifftop. In the centre, the stone figure of a lone pilot is seated on a sandstone base on which the badges of the squadrons and units who fought in the Battle are carved (See photograph on home-page: © Vic Seymour Photographic Service. Tel. 01303 275 477).

Their Royal Highnesses Prince and Princess Michael both flew to South Africa on 14th July to officially open Camp Jabulani at the Kapama Game Reserve at Hoedspruit. Camp Jabulani was named after an orphaned elephant, ‘Jabulani’ (meaning to rejoice), who was taken in by Lente Roode at the Hoedspruit Research and Breeding Centre for Endangered Species. Soon after, the Roodes rescued twelve other elephants from poachers in Zimbabwe and relocated them to Kapama to join Jabulani. Whilst at Kapama, Their Royal Highnesses had the opportunity to see the work of the Hoedspruit Research and Breeding Centre for Endangered Species. Established in 1988 by Lente Roode, it was initially established as a breeding programme for the then endangered cheetah, but following the enormous success of the cheetah breeding programme, has evolved into a legitimate breeding programme for other endangered African animal species. The ultimate objective of the Centre is to return endangered African species to the wild once their numbers have increased to such an extent that they can be released.