Duchess of Kent dies aged 92

The Duchess of Kent has died at the age of 92.

The Duchess, who was married to the Duke of Kent, died on Thursday night.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “It is with deep sorrow that Buckingham Palace announces the death of Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent.

“Her Royal Highness passed away peacefully last night at Kensington Palace, surrounded by her family.

“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.”

Flags were flown at half-mast at royal residences.

Once known to the press as “Caring Kate”, she was loved for her empathetic approach to royal duty and her openness about her physical and mental health in an era where it still felt taboo.

She was the first member of the Royal family to publicly convert to Catholicism in more than 300 years and is best known to the public for her sympathetic hug of tennis player Jana Novotna after her defeat at Wimbledon in 1993: seen as groundbreaking for its relatability and common touch at the time.

She called herself a “Yorkshire lass”, and was described by The Telegraph in 2022 as “the original royal rebel with a cause”.

The Duchess was styled HRH but stopped using it in 2002 when she took a voluntary step back from royal duties. She instead went on to spend 13 years as a music teacher at a Hull comprehensive school.

She was best known for her patronage of music charities and organisations, making it her life’s mission to pass on the benefits of a musical education to underserved communities.

Of Elizabeth II’s reaction to her decision to become a teacher, the Duchess once told The Telegraph: “The Queen said: ‘Yes, go and do it,’ so I did.”

The Duchess relished being known as Mrs Kent during her time working at a primary school, saying: “Only the head knew who I was. The parents didn’t know and the pupils didn’t know. No one ever noticed. There was no publicity about it at all – it just seemed to work.”

Born Katharine Worsley on Feb 22 1933 in Hovingham Hall, Yorkshire, she was the fourth child and only daughter of Sir William Worsley, 4th Baronet, Lord-lieutenant of North Riding and president of the Marylebone Cricket Club, and his wife Joyce Morgan Brunner.

She met the Duke of Kent, the late Queen’s cousin also known as Prince Edward, at a party in the late 1950s when he was stationed at Catterick. They married at York Minster in June 1961.

The couple went on to have three surviving children: George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews; Lady Helen Taylor; and Lord Nicholas Windsor. They have 10 grandchildren.

In 1975, the Duchess was compelled to have a medical termination after contracting German measles when pregnant.

She gave birth to a stillborn son, Patrick, at full term two years later and spent seven weeks being treated for “nervous strain” at the King Edward VII hospital in London.

“It had the most devastating effect on me,” she told The Telegraph in 1997. “I had no idea how devastating such a thing could be to any woman. It has made me extremely understanding of others who suffer a stillbirth.”

In 1996, as she prepared for a working trip to India, she was found to have suspected Epstein-Barr virus, with symptoms resembling those of ME [Myalgic encephalomyelitis]. She was later diagnosed as coeliac.

Nevertheless, the Duchess was exasperated by media coverage of her health and personal traumas.

In 1997, she said: “If I were to climb Mount Everest, which is unlikely, they would inevitably say it was ‘despite the fact that she suffered from acute depression and permanent ill-health’.”

The Duchess was a long-serving supporter of Unicef, served free meals to the homeless and spent five years volunteering for the Samaritans after becoming a patron of the charity in 1977.

She spent time looking after sick pilgrims at Lourdes, washing and feeding them as well as taking her turn to wash the floors.

In later life, she withdrew from public engagements with the Royal family, although she did attend royal weddings with her husband.

The Duchess was created a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1977, the highest personal recognition for personal services to the monarch.

In 1994, she was received into the Roman Catholic Church, the first member of the Royal family to do so since 1685.

The Duke and Duchess of Kent once lived at Anmer Hall, the current Norfolk residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

In one of her most famous public moments occurred in 1993 when, presenting the Centre Court prizes at Wimbledon, she put her arm around a tearful Jana Novotná at the Wimbledon Ladies’ singles final after she was defeated by Steffi Graff.

The Duchess said later: “How could you go up to someone and say: ‘Oh, bad luck!’ It was awful for her. She was crying so she got a hug, quite rightly.”

She was one of the first members of the Royal family to speak openly about her mental health at a time long before it was fashionable.

In an interview with The Telegraph in 1997, she spoke about the loss of baby Patrick and how throwing herself back into royal duties may have been a mistake.

“I don’t think I gave myself time to get over it,” she said then. “Probably I didn’t grieve properly.”

Of her seven weeks in hospital in 1979 for “treatment and supervised rest”, she said: “I am not ashamed of that patch at all. It was not a good period, but once I’d come out and returned to a sense of reality, I quickly realised that, awful as it was, it does happen to a lot of people.”

She described how she had “up and down days”, minding “terribly” when the subject of stillbirth and baby loss was brought up.

Of her religious conversation, she said she had loved the guidelines of the Catholic Church, and had found “a great support system” within it.

“My reasons were personal and remain private, but it was the security that appealed to me,” she said. “I didn’t in any way mean to hurt anybody in the Church of England. I hope I didn’t.”

The Duchess was deeply affected by her working visits to Third World countries.

She remained a friend and confidante to both Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, after their divorce.

Her last working entry in the court circular was on June 8 2023, when she held a reception and concert at St James’s Palace to celebrate the work of the charity Future Talent.

In her final interview, with The Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey, she revealed she was a fan of gangster rap, listening to Eminem and Ice Cube but not Kanye West.

The Duchess is survived by her husband, the Duke of Kent, and their three children.