Now THAT'S pushy! Beggars ambush Princess Pushy and her husband outside exclusive Mayfair club as Prince Michael hands over £10 to the group surrounding their car

• e-mail

It was not quite the end to a lovely evening they had been expecting.

Princess Michael of Kent and her husband Prince Michael had dined at an exclusive Mayfair club and restaurant, and were stepping out to head home.

But things turned sour as the princess – dubbed Princess Pushy by other royals – found she was the one in danger of being shoved as the couple found themselves ambushed by beggars. 

The group of persistent women, believed to be Romanian, swamped their car as they tried to leave LouLou’s.

Princess Michael of Kent and her husband Prince Michael had dined at an exclusive Mayfair club and restaurant, and were stepping out to head home

An eyewitness said the 75-year-old Prince – who is 45th in line to the throne – handed £10 to one of the women. But that only attracted a chorus of pleas from the others.

‘The prince was very nice but when he gave one of them £10 the others were all over him like bees. They were all saying “Please, please, please”,’ he said.

Staff from LouLou’s are said to have stepped in to allow Princess Michael, 72, who was behind the wheel, to drive off.

‘It took some time before they actually managed to drive away,’ the witness added.

An eyewitness said the Prince handed £10 to one of the women. But that only attracted a chorus of pleas from the others

Prince and Princess Michael, who married in 1978, were said to have eaten dinner at the club, where membership costs around £1,500 a year.

As the couple attempted to leave in their black BMW at around 11pm, Prince Michael tipped the valet driver – and was approached by the women when they spotted a wad of notes in his hand.

Princess Michael, dressed in black with large pearl earrings, was pictured smiling at one of the women who was trying to force a rose on her in a last ditch attempt to get more cash.

The group of beggars, believed to be from Queensway, are said to operate in the area each evening until 3am, targeting the rich patrons of a number of restaurants and bars in the affluent area.

‘They are here from 8pm most days and work all through the night. I don’t think they make a lot because most people ignore them,’ said a waiter from one restaurant.

While the Romanian women live a very different life to that of Czech-born Princess Michael, the royal has previously told how her family have had to cut down on ‘luxuries’ since agreeing to pay the full market rental value of their home in Kensington Palace.

‘We’ve cut back dramatically. I mean we never go out to dinner unless we go to somebody’s house. We never go to restaurants. That’s too extravagant,’ she claimed in one 2013 interview.

Prince and Princess Michael have lived in the palace apartment all their married life, paying only £70 a month in rent, including utilities, until grace-and-favour homes were reviewed in 2002.

The group of beggars, believed to be from Queensway, are said to operate in the area each evening until 3am, targeting the rich patrons of a number of restaurants and bars in the affluent area

Staff from LouLou’s are said to have stepped in to allow Princess Michael, 72, who was behind the wheel, to drive off

For the next seven years, the Queen paid their annual £120,000 market rent, but after that the couple had to sell their country home to pay it themselves.

The couple receive no income from the Crown and so run their own commercial interests.

The prince is a business consultant to companies in sectors including construction, telecoms and finance.

His wife carries out speaking engagements and writes books. The daughter of an aristocratic Nazi SS officer, she is once said to have been referred to by the Queen as ‘too grand for us’. 

Magnet for the A-List where a G&T is £20... 

Hidden behind a discreet, unmarked maroon door in the heart of Mayfair, LouLou’s has been a magnet for the rich and famous since it opened in 2012.

A-listers who frequent the fashionable members club, resturant and bar include Tom Cruise, George and Amal Clooney, Mick Jagger, Leonardo DiCaprio, Prince William, Princess Eugenie and Pippa Middleton.

In September, Rita Ora, Lewis Hamilton, Brazilian footballer Neymar, model Cara Delevingne and socialite Fran Cutler attended the Love Magazine for Miu Miu bash.

LouLou’s is owned by tycoon Robin Birley and named after his aunt Loulou de la Falaise, the fashion designer, who died in 2011. Mr Birley, 59, spent £30million doing up the dilapidated premises. Rather than employing an interior designer, he allowed the fashion designer Rifat Ozbek to conjure up its distinctive look.

Hidden behind a discreet, unmarked maroon door in the heart of Mayfair, LouLou’s has been a magnet for the rich and famous since it opened in 2012

The club features a giraffe’s head and neck rising out of the floor, a bar made of shells, and an illuminated peacock.

Membership is rumoured to cost £1,500 a year with a £1,200 joining fee – and there are believed to be only 3,000 names on its secret member’s list. As well as two restaurants and the nightclub, there is a cinema room and a cigar shop. A gin and tonic is believed to cost £20 and customers can buy 30g of caviar for £700. The venue once turned away members of the boy band One Direction because they did not meet its strict dress code.

Men must not wear shorts, T-shirts, flip flops or sandals or sportswear of any kind.

Women are not permitted to wear sportswear, flip-flops, dirty shoes or trainers, or items of clothing with any large rips.

Club owning is in the blood for Old Etonian Mr Birley, a former Ukip donor.

His father, Mark Birley, who died in 2007, ran several in the heart of London including Mark’s Club, Harry’s Bar and Annabel’s, named in honour of Robin’s mother, Lady Annabel Goldsmith.