Duchess of Kent’s funeral to be held at Westminster Cathedral

It was Westminster Cathedral that, decades ago, inspired the Duchess of Kent to convert to Catholicism.

After attending a Christmas carol service at the church, she said: “It was so beautiful, I thought: ‘Oh, I’d adore to be in here’.”

Having passed away at the age of 92, the Duchess has begun her final journey in that cathedral, surrounded by close family members for her funeral rites.

Her coffin, draped in the Royal Standard, was moved from her home at Kensington Palace in a hearse as a piper played at the side of the road.

The Duke of Kent, her widower, walked with a stick while arm in arm with Lady Helen Taylor, their daughter. He bowed his head as the coffin was carried up the cathedral steps before him.

The Duchess’s coffin remained there overnight, ahead of her funeral service on Tuesday.

The King, Queen, Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the Royal family will attend the Requiem Mass, designed in accordance with her wishes and her Catholic faith.

It will be the first Catholic funeral service held for a member of the Royal family in modern British history, and the first at Westminster Cathedral since it was built in 1903.

The Duchess’s coffin is made from English willow. A wreath of British garden flowers will be placed on top of it for the funeral service, including white roses, symbolising her Yorkshire birthplace.

It will also include sprays of rosemary for remembrance, oak leaves for strength, seasonal September flowers symbolising farewell, achillea representing healing and strength, jasmine for amiability. Also present will be sprigs of yew from the gardens of her family home of Hovingham Hall, representing eternal life.

The flowers were chosen by the Duchess’s family.

Music during the ceremony will include a piper playing the Lament, ‘Sleep, Dearie, Sleep’, which was also played during Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022.

The Choir and Organist of Westminster Cathedral will provide choral music, composed by Maurice Duruflé, including ‘Ave verum corpus’, by Mozart, which was chosen by the Duchess as her favourite piece, during her episode of Desert Island Discs in December 1990.

Katharine, the wife of Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, died peacefully at home, surrounded by her family, during the evening of Sept 4.

A devout follower of the Roman Catholic faith, the Duchess became the first member of the Royal family to convert to the faith for more than 300 years, having done so in 1994.

Members of the Duchess’s family including Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Princess Alexandra, Lord Frederick Windsor and his wife Sophie, Lady Gabriella Windsor and Amelia Windsor were seen entering the cathedral for a private Vigil for the Deceased, a Rite of Reception, during which the coffin is welcomed into the church. All wore black.

On Monday night, they privately attended Vespers, an evening prayer service taken by Bishop James Curry, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and Titular Bishop of Ramsbury.

Some had travelled to the service by minibus, following the hearse along the three-mile route from Kensington Palace.

As it emerged from the gates onto the busy public road, dozens of members of the public stopped to watch and film the short, slow-moving convoy on their mobile phones.

The bearer party was made up of servicemen from the Royal Dragoon Guards, a regiment the Duchess supported as deputy Colonel-in-Chief since its inception in 1992.

The Royal family are officially in mourning for the Duchess. Although engagements have not stopped, members of the family are wearing black clothes or armbands and flags have flown at half mast.

The Duchess is survived by her husband and three children: George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews; Lady Helen Taylor; and Lord Nicholas Windsor. The couple had 10 grandchildren.

The Duchess also lost two babies, and has spoken of the “devastating effect” of giving birth to a stillborn son, Patrick, in 1977.

Once known in the press as “Caring Kate”, she was loved by the public for hugging the tennis player Jana Novotna after her defeat to Steffi Graf in the 1993 Wimbledon final.

The Duchess was a long-serving supporter of Unicef, spent five years volunteering for the Samaritans after becoming a patron of the charity in 1977, and spent time looking after sick pilgrims at Lourdes.

She 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 2002, she dropped her HRH title to teach music in a state primary school, known to children and parents as “Mrs Kent”.

On September 5, 2025, Buckingham Palace announced that the Duchess had “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 lifelong devotion to all the organisations with which she was associated, her passion for music and her empathy for young people,” a spokesman added.

The Prince and Princess of Wales posted their own tribute, saying: “Our thoughts today are with The Duke of Kent and his family, particularly George, Helen and Nicholas.

“The Duchess worked tirelessly to help others and supported many causes, including through her love of music.

“She will be a much missed member of the family. W & C”.

The King will not be the first monarch to have attended a Catholic funeral: the late Queen attended the Catholic state funeral of King Baudouin of the Belgians, at St Michael’s Cathedral in Brussels, in August 1993.

King Charles, when Prince of Wales, went to Pope John Paul II’s funeral, representing his mother the late Queen, in 2005, while his son Prince William attended Pope Francis’s funeral mass earlier this year.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]