The Duchess of Kent dies aged 92, Buckingham Palace publicizes

The Duchess of Kent has died on the age of 92, Buckingham Palace has introduced with “deep sorrow”.

She “passed away peacefully last night at Kensington Palace, surrounded by her family”, a press release stated on Friday, with flags on royal residences, together with Buckingham Palace, now lowered to half mast.

The Prince and Princess of Wales stated the duchess can be a “much missed member of the family” who had “worked tirelessly to help others and supported many causes, including through her love of music”.

The duchess, Katharine, was the oldest member of the Royal Family, married to Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, a primary cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

She will probably be remembered as a well-recognized determine on the Wimbledon tennis championships, the place she handed over trophies – and consoled those that had misplaced, famously together with a tearful Jana Novotna in 1993.

King Charles, who’s in Balmoral in Scotland, was knowledgeable of her demise late on Thursday, and there will probably be a interval of royal mourning till the duchess’s funeral, with darkish garments and troops on public duties sporting black armbands.

“The King and Queen and all members of the Royal Family join the Duke of Kent, his children and grandchildren in mourning their loss and remembering fondly the duchess’s life-long devotion to all the organisations with which she was associated, her passion for music and her empathy for young people,” stated a press release, which had additionally been connected to the gates outdoors Buckingham Palace.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to how the Duchess of Kent introduced “compassion, dignity and a human touch to everything she did”.

The duchess was a fantastic music lover – supporting music charities and instructing music in a Hull main faculty, the place pupils knew nothing of her royal identification, and the place she was often called “Mrs Kent”.

The date of her funeral has not been introduced, however it’s more likely to be a Catholic service in step with the religion of the duchess.

It’s not confirmed which members of the Royal Family may attend the funeral, in what will be a busy time for the royals, with a state go to by President Trump approaching. Prince Harry can be as a consequence of be within the UK subsequent week for charity occasions.

Perhaps essentially the most acquainted pictures of the duchess’s life are from her appearances at Wimbledon, the place she was often seen watching the tennis and stepping on to the court docket to provide out prizes.

She gave a shoulder to cry on to the defeated Novotna – however 5 years later was there handy over the trophy to the Czech tennis star.

The duchess additionally spoke of her deep sadness at the 49-year-old Novotna’s death from most cancers in 2017.

Although was claimed that the duchess later fell out with Wimbledon authorities over her try to deliver the 12-year-old son of a bereaved pal into the Royal Box.

Tennis star Martina Navratilova posted her personal tribute to the duchess on Friday, saying it was “amazing how many millions of people around the globe she affected in a positive way”.

Born as Katharine Worsley, from an aristocratic land-owning household in Yorkshire, the duchess grew to become a part of the Royal Family in 1961 when she married the Duke of Kent, a grandson of King George V.

Princess Anne was among the many bridesmaids at their marriage ceremony in York Minster, with the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles within the congregation.

The duchess took on an everyday spherical of royal duties, however all through her life she additionally carved out a person path.

She grew to become a Catholic in 1994, the primary royal to transform to Catholicism for greater than 300 years, describing it as “a long-pondered personal decision”.

The duchess was acquired into the Catholic church by the then Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Basil Hume.

She grew to become a volunteer within the Passage homelessness charity, which Cardinal Hume had helped to arrange – and which is now given high-profile assist by the Prince of Wales.

The Duchess and Duke of Kent had three kids, however one other son was stillborn.

That loss in 1977 noticed a interval of intense emotional turmoil. The duchess emerged after a seven-week keep in hospital for what palace officers described on the time as “nervous exhaustion”.

It was an period with a lot much less openness about psychological well being and wellbeing – however she later revealed how a lot she had suffered from “acute depression”.

Music was an enormous a part of the lifetime of the duchess, having spoken of how emotional it made her really feel, as a listener and as a musician, together with singing within the Bach Choir.

Her tastes had been eclectic – choosing Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus as her favourite piece on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs – but additionally later talking of her liking for gangsta rap.

In later years, she stepped again from utilizing her royal HRH title and spent extra time working to enhance music schooling for younger individuals.

As Katharine Kent, or Mrs Kent, she lived one thing of a double life, working from the mid-Nineties as a part-time music teacher at Wansbeck Primary School in Kingston upon Hull, with out mother and father or pupils figuring out about her royal background.

She spoke of proficient kids trapped by deprivation – describing “estates with Berlin Walls around them” – and subsequently arrange a charity to assist younger individuals get entry to studying devices.

The duchess espoused the “power of music to give confidence and self-belief” and stated of her time as a instructor: “My connection will always be there. I love those children, I love East Hull, I wouldn’t have stayed there for 13 years if I hadn’t.”

She is survived by her husband, the Duke of Kent, aged 89, and their two sons and a daughter.