PRINCE MICHAEL began the month in Helsinki where, as an Honorary Doctor of Moscow's Plekhanov Economics Academy, he attended the annual meeting of the Honorary Doctors International Committee.

On the morning of October 1, His Royal Highness gave a speech in which he addressed the 40-strong committee of fellow Honorary Doctors from around the world on the subject of regional and educational investment in Russia.

During his three-day visit to Finland, the Prince also took the opportunity to look around Helsinki General Hospital, where he took a particular interest in the Burns Unit.

As Patron of the British-based charity Friends of Russian Children, which focuses much of its effort on supporting the specialist Burns Unit at Moscow's Speransky Hospital No 9, he was able to compare the facilities and procedures in Helsinki with those available in Russia.

Prince Michael said: "By any standards the Helsinki unit is extremely advanced, particularly when it comes to some of the micro-surgery techniques they are using there to treat the more severe burns injuries."

Pointing out that the Burns Unit at Helsinki General has twelve beds and an average of just 40 serious burns cases a year, whereas Speransky No 9 has ninety beds and a great many more cases to deal with, he added that seeing and comparing different countries' ideas and procedures was always a helpful exercise. He added: "One of the reasons why there is a much higher incidence of serious burns cases in Russia is partly due to the environment. People in Russia need to be educated about this from school age and that is where the Finns might be willing to help."

In Glasgow, on October 14, Prince Michael met with some of the vendors of The Big Issue in Scotland - the weekly magazine sold on the street by, and on behalf of, homeless people. Started six years ago, two years after the original Big Issue was launched in London, the Big Issue in Scotland has a weekly circulation of 79,000. In addition to co-director Mel Young, editor Ken Laird and other members of the staff, the Prince met and talked to a number of the vendors, who receive 60p of the £1 cover price for every copy they sell, the remaining 40p going to The Big Issue to cover costs.

Said the Prince: "I didn't know quite what to expect but I was extremely impressed - especially with the quality of the vendors. They were bright, positive and talked openly about the problems faced by the homeless.

"They made it clear that to be given the responsibility of selling the magazine had helped to give them a great deal of self-respect and confidence. They said that for many of them it was the first time that they had ever felt wanted or had been praised for their efforts."

Prince Michael also met Valery Sokolov, founder and President of The Depths, The Big Issue's St Petersburg equivalent. Mr Sokolov was visiting Glasgow along with several journalists from The Depths and the Prince, a qualified Russian interpreter who had been invited to The Big Issue offices partly because of his Russian connections, was able to chat with them in fluent Russian.

His Royal Highness remarked afterwards that he had found the occasion both interesting and informative. "The Depths was actually started before The Big Issue and the two publications have developed strong links, with one of the Glasgow vendors I met having visited Russia four times to see what the situation is like out there. Glasgow and St Petersburg share certain problems although the plight of the homeless in St Petersburg is particularly horrific, especially in severe winter conditions."

On the evening of October 14 the Prince was back in London to attend a reception given by The Queen at Buckingham Palace for over 500 members of the emergency services, including the police, fire and ambulance services.

The next day, October 15, Prince Michael presented the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Aerospace Prize during a luncheon at the Royal Aeronautical Society. Francois-Xavier Bagnoud was an exceptionally gifted young Swiss pilot of both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, who flew more than 300 successful mountain rescue missions in the Alps before dying in a tragic helicopter accident in Mali, West Africa in 1986 when he was just 25. His mother used her considerable wealth to launch the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Foundation and Association in his memory, with the aim of promoting a variety of humanitarian, community and aeronautical projects worldwide.

Prince Michael with the award-winning Russian team at the Aeronautical Society.

The $250,000 Aerospace Prize, awarded biennially, rewards achievement in aeronautics and astronautics and it went, on this occasion, to the team of five Russian space scientists responsible for designing and building the MIR space station.

On October 19 His Royal Highness attended a state banquet in honour of the visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

The following day, in his capacity as President of the Kennel Club, the Prince visited the Royal Veterinary College, near Potters Bar, where he was impressed by some of the latest techniques used to treat not only smaller animals but also the larger farm animals.

A past President of the Institute of the Motor Industry, Prince Michael attended the Motor Show at Earls Court on October 21. After visiting a number of stands, the Prince said that he had been pleased to note how buoyant the industry seemed to be compared with the period not so long ago when there had been a mood of despondency about the future.

On October 22, in his capacity as Honorary Commodore of the Royal Naval Reserve, His Royal Highness visited HMS Ferret, the defence, intelligence and security centre at Chicksands in Bedfordshire.

Among the staff are specialist linguists whose duties include talking to nationals in foreign countries, often in difficult circumstances. In particular, Prince Michael met a number of Serbo-Croat and Albanian speakers who were able to give him first-hand accounts of their experiences during the recent Balkans crises.

"Having, myself, been trained as a Russian military interpreter, I felt a certain kinship with them," said the Prince afterwards.

His Royal Highness was in Oxford on October 25 to unveil a plaque in honour of the great industrialist and benefactor Lord Nuffield.

Following the ceremony, in the building which was once Lord Nuffield's original garage and which now houses the Oxford Law Courts, the Prince paid tribute to the man who, he said, had been such a significant charitable contributor in so many different fields.

In particular, he had donated huge amounts to the motor industry and to the armed forces during the war and had also been behind the creation of Oxford's Radcliffe Infirmary. Nuffield College, where the Prince and other guests lunched after the ceremony, was built in 1958 entirely with money from the Nuffield Foundation.

On October 26 His Royal Highness was at Farnborough where he presented the Fellowship Awards of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). He also inaugurated the Prince Michael of Kent Awards for the Exploitation of Science.

On the following day the Prince was in Kent in his capacity as Patron of the Kent Riverside Walk Appeal, to open the Lockmeadow Bridge over the Medway near Maidstone. As part of the county's Millennium celebrations, the Appeal has cleaned and restored a nine-kilometre stretch of the Medway riverbank and Lockmeadow is one of the bridges that cross it.

From Kent, Prince Michael flew to Munich to visit the BMW plant there, which includes a section specialising in the manufacture of armoured diplomatic vehicles.

"BMW are apparently the only manufacturers who build the armour into the cars, rather than adding it on later," explained the Prince.

Also during the month, His Royal Highness was invited to become the UK Patron of the World Monument Fund, the American-based organisation committed to the preservation of important and significant buildings worldwide.

Each year the Fund identifies 100 buildings around the world as being especially worthy of attention.

Said Prince Michael: "The chosen buildings are selected by a panel of acknowledged architectural authorities and tend to be a very eclectic group, not just the obvious architectural treasures."

His Royal Highness added: "I am delighted to have been invited to become the Fund's UK Patron. I travel a great deal and have always taken an interest in the architectural heritage of those countries I visit. I am already involved, as Patron, with an organisation that looks after all the wooden buildings in Russia - mostly churches, many of them constructed entirely without nails. I now greatly look forward to working in a broader context with the World Monument Fund."