Royal Musings: HRH The Duchess of Kent: A Life

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“God bless her – she’s a very special royal. ” This statement was made in July 1995 by a Northern Irish bus driver who was a part of a group that included the Duchess of Kent on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley, who became HRH The Duchess of Kent when she married HRH Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, was undoubtedly a very special royal.  She died on September 4th at Wren Cottage at the age of 92. 

As the wife of a British Prince, she had the rank of Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Duchess was born at Hovingham Hall on February 22, 1933, the youngest child and only daughter of Sir William Worsley, 4th, and his wife, Joyce Brunner.  She had three older brothers, Marcus, Oliver, and John.   Her biographer, Mary Riddell, noted that “no lasting closeness would develop” between Katharine and her mother, whose decisions for Katharine’s life would make her “bitterly unhappy and resentful.”

Her father, a noted cricket player, taught her to play cricket.  During World War II, she attended St. Margaret’s School, located in Castle Howard, just a few miles away from Hovingham Hall.  Every day, she would ride her horse Greylegs to school.  After the war ended, she was sent to Runton Hill School, near Cromer in Norfolk, where she studied music and played the piano. She was also “gifted with a beautiful voice.”  She applied to the Royal Academy of Music, but did not get a place.   Her secondary education concluded with a finishing school in Oxford, run by Miss Hubler.  According to the duchess’s first biographer, Helen Cathcart, Miss Hubler’s school was a select institution, limited to eight pupils. 

 The young women studied French literature, French history, French painting and architecture, current affairs, and household management

In 1939, six-year-old Katharine was presented to HRH Prince George, Duke of Kent, who visited Hovingham Hall during an official tour of Yorkshire.  According to a July 1983 Daily Express profile of the Duchess of Kent,  the Duke of Kent took the “little shy little girl to his arms and patiently answered all her questions.”

Prince George, who married Princess Marina in 1934, was killed in a plane crash in Scotland while on active duty in August 1942.   His elder son, Prince Edward, was 7 years old when he succeeded his father.

Katharine’s family was wealthy. The Worsleys have lived at Hovingham since the 1600s.  Hovingham Hall was built between 1750 and 1774. Her mother was the daughter of John Brunner, the founder of a paint and chemical company that “evolved into ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries.”)

Although she was imbued with a “sense of social duty,” Katharine was unsure of what to do with her life after she left school. She organized music festivals at Hovingham and also volunteered at a local orphanage.  When it was time for her “coming out” in society, her parents rented a London apartment for the season.   The goal for the season was to find a suitable husband, and her mother was determined that her only daughter would marry well.

Although she had no qualifications, she was hired as a kindergarten assistant at an “exclusive nursery” run by Lady Eden, the sister-in-law of Sir Anthony Eden.  When the position ended, she returned home, which was “practical and emotional,”  due to the affection lavished on her by her father.”   Her mother, who suffered from arthritis, may have been envious of her daughter’s close relationship with her father.

Joyce was determined for Katherine to marry well.  In 1956, the Duke of Kent was posted to Catterick Barracks near Hovingham Hall. Sir William extended a luncheon invitation to the young duke.  Katharine was 23 years old, and her mother believed she “must be steered into a grand marriage.”  Lady Worsley considered the Duke of Kent to be “an exceedingly good catch.”  

Eddie asked his aunt, Princess Mary, the Princess Royal, to invite Katharine to lunch at Harewood House.   He would often visit Katharine at Hovingham Hall, usually arriving by a back road or a bus to avoid the press.  Their relationship became public after photographs of Edward and Katharine attending a fancy dress ball.  She was “dressed fetchingly as a pink and white Dresden shepherdess. Edward was dressed in Tudor attire, looking “gawky and boyish looking.”

The duke spent Christmas Day at Sandringham with other members of the Royal Family.  He told his mother that he would leave on Boxing Day to visit Katharine in Yorkshire.  Marina forbade him to go, but Eddie stood up to her and asked the Queen for permission.  She gave her assent.   

Another biographer, Valerie Garner, wrote that Marina was “both startled and worried” by her son’s rebellion.

Marina was searching for an “impeccably bred” wife for her son.  She once described her sisters-in-law, the Duchesses of York and Gloucester, as “common little Scottish girls.” To be fair, both duchesses came from wealthy noble families with numerous properties. The Duchess of York was the daughter of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, whose primary residence was Glamis Castle.  The Duchess of Gloucester’s father was the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury.  He owned numerous properties, including Bowhill House, Drumlanrig Castle, and Boughton House. 

Marina spent most of her pre-marital life in exile with her parents, who were not wealthy.

 Now she had to deal with “the unpleasant prospect of having a village girl — albeit a top-drawer one — as a daughter-in-law,” according to Riddell.

Katharine was invited to Coppins for tea, unaware that Marina was honing her plan to end the romance.  Eddie watched every move his mother made.  The following day, he took Katharine to meet his Aunt Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.   The following year, in 1957, Katharine was invited to Princess Alexandra’s 21st birthday party.   It was shortly after Katharine’s 25th birthday when the Duke of Kent informed his mother that he wanted to marry Kate.

Edward’s mother, Princess Marina — her official title after his marriage was HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent– was not keen on her son’s choice.  She was regarded as having the “most personal power in the small circle” surrounding the late Queen Elizabeth II.  The Duke of Kent spent much time persuading his mother “to give her consent for him to marry into a family ranking lower than his,” even though his mother had made it clear that she had wanted a royal bride for her son.

At the time of his marriage, the Duke of Kent was eighth in line to the British throne.  After Princess Margaret’s marriage in May 1960,  Queen Elizabeth was keen on having the Duke of Kent and his younger sister, Princess Alexandra, take “more official duties.”   Eddie, as he is known within the family, was not “a quick developer.” While his younger sister was taking on more responsibilities, Eddy, who had joined the Scots Greys,  showed a “disturbing tendency to shun the nobility and escort commoners.”   He told his mother he was “bored with the Army” and wanted to be a photographer.

Katharine Worsley was the daughter of a baronet, raised at her father’s 4,000-acre estate, Hovingham Hall.  He held the position of Lord Lieutenant of North Riding.   Marina wanted her son to marry a princess.  Eddy was determined to win his Yorkshire girl.   Marina, the daughter of a Greek Prince and a Russian Grand Duchess, put out roadblocks to thwart the romance.  Kate was nearly three years older than Eddie.  Marina allegedly told him, “You can’t possibly be serious about a person that age.” 

He was.  In May 1959, he told his mother, “I want the wedding to take place at once,” but gave in to his mother’s wish that he wait.  According to one friend, Eddie quickly “matured into a sober but friendly young man for whom the quiet dinner with friends replaced the gay night-club visits.”   He also took more of an active interest in “court activities” and had matured into a “first-rate officer.”

It is not a surprise that Marina said no, using a myriad of excuses, including Eddie being too young and Katharine not being suitable for royal life.  To make matters worse, the Duke of Kent was about to be sent to Germany for two years.  Eddie offered several solutions, including getting married at Hovingham Church, all of which were declined.  His mother reminded him that he needed the Queen’s permission to marry, and that was unlikely in the current situation.

Marina “imposed her deal” with Edward. He and Katharine must separate for one year with no communication between them.   Edward went off to Germany, and Katharine flew to Toronto to spend time with her brother, John, and his family, where, according to Garner, she could “think things out.

She traveled with a friend, Fiona Myddleton, and they planned to travel by Greyhound Bus from Toronto to Mexico.  Katharine also found a job in Birks, a Toronto jewelry store.

Princess Alexandra wrote often, sending news about her brother, to Katharine, who remained unsure of the future. As she arrived in Mexico, Katharine received a bouquet of flowers with a card signed with one letter, E.

The year of separation was over.  Eddie was home on leave, and Marina agreed to invite Katharine to dinner. It was difficult for Marina to provide further excuses for the engagement to be announced.  She said there could be no announcement until after Princess Margaret’s wedding had taken place in May 1960.

Not long after their reunion, which took place shortly after Eddie’s 24th birthday, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, invited Eddie and Katharine to a dance at Clarence House, a private celebration for Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones’ engagement.   The Queen Mother was keen on Katharine, and allegedly told other members of the Royal family: “We must do everything to help Katharine get to know us.”

Marina finally realized that the marriage was inevitable.  She began teaching Katharine royal protocol and offered a list of royal biographies for her to read. Katharine remained unconvinced that marrying the Duke of Kent was the right thing to do.  She confided her uneasiness to her friends.  She was not sure she could handle royal life and all that it entailed.

The proposal took place on New Year’s Day, 1961,  in the Hovingham Hall library.  He gave Katharine a “mammoth” sapphire and diamond ring.”   One of the Duke’s friends, Lord  Bridges, said: “I suspect she undertook the marriage partly out of a sense of duty.  In other words, it wasn’t a romantic, overwhelming thing that most people have.” Lord Bridges believes Katharine “had no wish to enter the world of royal protocol. She would have been happier with a good country marriage.”  

After the engagement was announced, Eddie’s mother wrote to a friend: “We are very happy about it as he loved Katharine for four years.  It is a good beginning, I feel, and she is a pretty, sweet person, so I thank God for another great blessing. But how the years pass. It seems only the other day he was a little boy.”

She and her husband were distant cousins as both were descendants of Edward I.  The Duke descends from Edward I’s son, King Edward II, from his first marriage to Eleanor of Castile, and the Duchess’s line is through Edward’s son, Edmund of Woodstock.  She was also a descendant of Oliver Cromwell through his daughter, Frances.

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Their engagement was announced on March 8, 1961: “It is with the greatest pleasure that the Duchess of Kent announces the betrothal of her elder son, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, to Katharine, only daughter of Sir William and Lady Worsley, to which union the Queen has gladly given her consent.”

The Duchess of Kent’s Private Secretary, Sir Philip Hay, said, “The Duchess has known Miss Worsley for some time now and is naturally delighted by this news.”

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Katharine and her parents joined other guests at a dinner party hosted by the Duchess of Kent at Kensington Palace.  The bride-to-be also spent several days at Kensington Palace with the Duchess of Kent.

Three days after the engagement announcement, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip hosted a dinner for the couple.  Eddie’s mother and two siblings, Princess Alexandra and Prince Michael, were among those invited, along with King Paul and Queen Frederica of the Hellenes and their two daughters, Princess Sophie and Princess Irene.

The newly engaged couple wanted to marry at Hovingham, according to Valerie Garner.  Marina was pushing for Westminster Abbey, where she and Prince George were married.  Katharine suggested York Minster because it was “the heart of Yorkshire.”   This decision met with the Queen’s approval.

The wedding date was set for June 8th at York Minster.  This was the first royal wedding at the Minster since January 24, 1328, when King Edward III married Philippa of Hainault.  The Duke of Kent’s marriage was the first with an untitled woman since September 6, 1766, when Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, wed Maria Walpole, widow of the Earl of Waldegrave, and natural daughter of Sir Edward Walpole.  This marriage was conducted in secret, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s older brother, King George III, was kept in the dark until 1772, five months after the Royal Marriages Act, which was promulgated in response to another brother, the Duke of Cumberland’s marriage in 1771 to Lady Anne Horton.

This royal wedding had the approval of Queen Elizabeth II, whose daughter, Princess Anne, was one of the bridesmaids.

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 Although it was “almost a rain-spoilt” wedding, the event was “mainly a family affair; sumptuous, magnificently dressed, delightful to see, and basically unpretentious.”   

Although it has been reported that Katharine would not vow to obey, following the 1928 Prayer Book, both the bride and groom wanted the word to be included in the service.  

Following the wedding, a reception for more than 2000 guests was held at Hovingham Hall.

The new Duchess of Kent’s gown had been designed by John Cavanagh.   The dress was described as “statesque and simple.”   It was made of “white silk gauze, with a specially woven design that shimmered lightly, according to the Times.  Her “long tulle veil” was held in place by a diamond bandeau once owned by Edward’s grandmother, Queen Mary.

After spending their honeymoon at Birkhall and Mallorca, the couple settled into married life at Coppins. 

In his memoir, The Royal Life, the duke told Hugo Vickers that the Duchess was eased into royal duties. “It evolved gradually — it started off with local things at Iver and expanded.”   This was confirmed by the duchess, who said: “They were very kind to me. I think they gave me slow working time, not putting too much onto my shoulders at the beginning.” 

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 Their first child, a son, George, styled as the Earl of St. Andrews, was born at Coppins on June 26, 1962.   That November, the Duke was assigned to Hong Kong, Katharine with baby George, and the nanny joined him not long after his arrival.

“We had a wonderful year in Hong Kong, probably the best we had in our lives,” the Duchess told Hugo Vickers. 

A daughter, Lady Helen, was born at Coppins on April 28, 1964.  The Duke of Kent was serving in Germany when his daughter was born.   His wife and two young children flew out to Germany shortly after Helen’s christening. 

The family stayed in Germany for more than a year.  Katharine felt very much a member of the local community during their time in Fallingbostel. As the Duke prepared for the next step in his military career, the duchess and the two children returned to Coppins, a happy place, according to Katharine, where she could potter about in the garden and live a “peaceful life.”

 
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Marina, Duchess of Kent, died from an inoperable brain tumor on August 27, 1968.  Katharine’s biographer, Mary Riddell, wrote that Marina never allowed her daughter-in-law to upstage her, and now Katharine would receive a larger royal portfolio and more responsibility.  She still felt she was a beginner in royal duties, and she did not know how she “would cope” or be able to help Edward with his own bereavement.

Eddie was commanding a UN Peacekeeping force in Cyprus when his wife gave birth to a third child and second son, Lord Nicholas, on July 25, 1970.  The Duchess, now 37 years old, gave birth to Nicholas in King’s College Hospital in London.  She was the first member of the British royal family to give birth in a hospital.

Finances were an issue from the start of their marriage, as Eddie had a small inheritance from his father and his Army pay.  In the early 1970s, the Duke and Duchess finally accepted that they could no longer maintain their home, Coppins, which his father had inherited from his paternal aunt, HRH Princess Victoria.

In January 1972, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and their children moved into York House at St. James’s Palace.  Two months later, they “took over Anmer Hall” on the Sandringham estate as a “weekend and holiday home.”  The Duke acknowledged that they would not return to Coppins, and he was “contemplating selling it.”   In early May, Coppins was on the market.  

In 1976, the duke retired from the military and accepted the position of vice chairman of the British Overseas Trade Board.  This allowed the duke and his wife to accept more overseas engagements and new patronages. 

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 The Duchess was surprised to learn that she was pregnant for a fourth time when her household announced on June 24, 1977, that she was expecting a baby at age 44.  The following month, in a message to the British Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology, she spoke out against restricting abortion.  “If there is abuse, it could easily become the accepted standard.  Human life is sacred.  It is a gift from God, and as such must never be taken for granted.”  On the advice of her physicians, she did not attend the congress.

Diane Munday, press officer for the British Advisory Service, issued an “angry response” to the Duchess’s statement.  “It ill behoves someone in her privileged position to pass judgment on the predicament of people who are often in dire straits when they seek an abortion.”

Unfortunately, the duchess developed complications in her pregnancy. She was admitted to the King Edward VII Hospital for officers on October 4.  The Duke of Kent was in Iran on an official visit when he was informed about her hospitalization.  He cut short his trip and flew back to London.   The Queen, who was at Balmoral when she was told about the Duchess, was said to be “understandably concerned.”

She fought “for 36 hours to keep her fourth child,” but on October 5, she lost her baby after a 4 1/2 pregnancy.   The sex of the child was not announced, but it was learn later that the stillborn child was a boy, who was named Patrick.  The Duchess remained in the hospital for several more days. She resumed her public role on October 27 when she attended a concert given by the Friends of Yehudi Menuhin School at Lambeth Palace.

The original reports stated that the Duchess was only 4 1/2 months pregnant when she lost her son.  Some years later, she acknowledged that her son was stillborn, and the pregnancy went to full term. One of her ladies-in-waiting, Lady Lothian, believed that the child was born slightly premature.  It is understood that the Duke and Duchess’s office did not intend to mislead the public, but to protect the Duchess due to her age, her “gynecological history, her mental and physical fraility, or a combination of those factors.”

The Duchess never got over Patrick’s death.  “It had the most devastating effect on me.  I had no idea how devastating such a thing could be to any woman… I suffered from acute depression for a while. I think it would be a fairly rare individual who didn’t cave in under those circumstances. The baby was born dead at nine months. It was a horrible thing to happen.”

Two years earlier, the Duchess contracted rubella (German measles) and chose to terminate her pregnancy.  Only close family members knew the Duchess was pregnant, as no announcement had been made, apart from an announcement on April 30, 1975, in The Times, which stated that the Duchess “has German measles.”

One of her closest friends at the time was Lord Coggin, then the Archbishop of Canterbury. “She had to debate in her own mind whether it should be an abortion or not.  It was an abortion, and I think that has  quite probably  troubled her throughout her life.”

In June 1983, the Duchess canceled all of her engagements, still recovering from an operation for the removal of an ovarian cyst.  It was reported that the Duchess was suffering from depression.  According to several news sources, the Duchess had been suffering from bouts of depression since 1977 after she gave birth to her stillborn son, Patrick.   She was, according to one reporter, “no longer her sparkling self.”  It was also noted that some members of the Royal Family had not seen her for at least six months.

The Duchess’s daughter, Lady Helen, said that the reports that her mother is “severely depressed and has nervous disorders” were all “nonsense.” Sir Richard Buckley, a spokesman for the Duke and Duchess, also said the press reports were “fabrication.”  

“There is no question of this happening.  The Duchess is convalescing and improving.” 

 A Daily Express spokesman, who reported that the Duchess would enter King Edward VII Hospital for treatment, including shock therapy, said, “We stand by every word.”

Years later, the Duchess confirmed she had been treated for depression.

The duchess had hoped Patrick’s birth would have helped save a foundering marriage that may have, according to Mary Riddell, “appeared beyond salvation.”  

One associate of the Kents told Riddell, “This was her attempt to rescue the marriage or keep her footing in the royal family if it [the marriage] failed.  She feared she would be cast aside.”

For the former Katharine Worsley to succeed in her royal role, she “needed the love, understanding, warmth of an emotionally literate husband,” which the Duke of Kent was not.  Katharine’s father doted on her, and she craved the “same undivided attention” from her husband.

A close friend of the Duchess said, “She found that he wasn’t the person she wanted him to be. He didn’t fulfil her expectations of a husband.  He wasn’t attentive enough or interested enough in what she was doing.”

Riddell noted that Eddie was “well-read, clever and cultured,” and “regarded by both his inner circle and by the organizations for which he works as a staunch crusader for Britain’s crown and its industry.”   But he was not equipped to “help dissipate the terrible problems of a wife in the throes of a nervous breakdown and mourning two lost children.”

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Mary Riddell’s biography, The Duchess of Kent: The Troubled Life of Katharine Worsley, provides details on the couple’s marital strugggles and how, in 1976, the Duke of Kent sought help from Michael Mann, Dean of Windsor.   Mann was “pragmatic.”  He recognized Katharine’s “brilliance, compassion, and charm.”  He was also aware of her inner struggles, and “the strains her problems placed on Edward and her rejection of him as an imperfect father.”

Mindful of Princess Margaret’s divorce, the Duke of Kent “resolved that his marriage would endure.”  According to Riddell, the Kents embarked on “less an odyssey of reconciliation than the acknowledgement of a life sentence.”

Riddell also discussed the “very, very heavy medication” that was prescribed for the Duchess.  She called it “what many now regard as an irresponsible amount of drugs.” 

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For some years, the duchess had been questioning her faith.  It was suggested that her eventual conversion to the Roman Catholic faith began in 1977, after her miscarriage.  The “deeply religious” Duchess officially became a Roman Catholic in January  1994 in a 45-minute ceremony conducted by Cardinal Basil Hume.  After the ceremony, he said, “She seemed very peaceful and at ease.”

The duchess of Kent’s decision to leave the Anglican Church had nothing to do with allowing women to be ordained as priests. According to a statement released by the Kents’ office in St.. James Palace, the decision to convert was “a purely private matter and has no constitutional implication whatever.”

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She had suffered ill-health, including bouts of depression, gall bladder issues that led to surgery, and the removal of an ovarian cyst.

By the spring of 1997, she returned to royal duties, including a tour of South Africa, where she met with Nelson Mandela.  She was also making weekly visits to Passage Day Centre’s homeless shelter in London, where she served food and cleaned the bathrooms, and provided companionship to the more than 50 nightly residents who did not know she was a member of the Royal Family.  She was known only as Katharine.  She usually came once a week.  

“I live in London, I have the time, and it’s easy for me.” She also called for more support for the homeless. “I feel there is an enormous lack of respect.”

She enjoyed being anonymous.  In a May 1999 interview with the Telegraph, she told Helena de Bertodano: “I’m a very down-to-earth person who likes mixing with my mates.  I go shopping in M&S and Safeway in Ken High Street. I do the shopping and cook the supper.  The other day I even cooked a paella, although I managed to burn it slightly.” 

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In 2000, her persistence in supporting the homeless paid off when she opened a new shelter, partially funded by donations to the Daily Telegraph’s 1999 Christmas appeal.

Two years later, HRH The Duchess of Kent retired from royal duties, preferring a more private life, even eschewing the use of HRH.  Richard Kay called this “a simple concession to someone who has become increasingly troubled” by the formality of royal life.  She desired informality and did not want to use Your Royal Highness.  

She completed a diploma course that allowed her to teach music.  She purchased a flat in Notting Hill, which, according to her spokeswoman, was “just big enough to fit a piano and not much else.”   The Duchess started her teaching career by going to her pupils, but “expressed a desire to have her own study, away from the palace, where she can get on with her teaching.

“Music has always been a huge part of her life and she is devoting much more of her time to it, ” said Sue Ayton, the Duchess’s spokeswoman.

Divorce rumors resurfaced in 2004 when the Sunday Mirror reported that the Duke and Duchess were “thrashing out the final details of settlement”  after 43 years of marriage.

“This has been drifting on for too long, and the Duke has had enough. They have discussed divorce between themselves and with close friends.”   The alleged Royal adviser added that the Queen was said to be “distressed and upset”.   The report also quoted a “royal aide” who said that the Duke had been “gently pushing” for the divorce.  “We are not talking about a two-fisted battle. It will be a quiet divorce, and she will be well looked after.”

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told the Sunday Mirror: “I have spoken to the Duke’s private secretary and he said he has no information about such a development.”

The Duke was “bound by his pledge that the marriage would last.”  For Katharine, her solution was found in Catholicism, that marriage vows were sacrosanct.”

According to Riddell, the Duchess was “capable of being misguided, unrealistic, and autocratic.” She was a very privileged woman whose life “masked a loneliness,” and found a way to live her life nearly on her own terms.

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The late Tony, Marchioness of Lothian (widow of the 12th Marquess of Lothian), understood that Katharine’s Catholic faith was one of the most important things in her life.  “I believe the need for spiritual strength is the key to her whole character.  She is very lonely without it; she is a very lonely character.  The Catholic discipline gives her an inner framework. So does her music. I remember her watching her in the Bach Choir, and watching this transfixed face shining out from all the other faces when she sang St. Matthew’s Passion.  Music and religion are, for Duchess Katharine, very related.”

In 2004, the Duchess of Kent was interviewed by the Daily Mail about teaching music.   “I absolutely love it, I think more and more that it is the most important thing I do.”  She described her young pupils as “little sponges” who “really want to learn….It’s a privilege. To me, it’s one of the most exciting jobs anyone can do.  She admitted she had been working as a music teacher at a primary school, Wansbeck Primary School in Hull, East Yorkshire, taking the train each day from London without anyone, including the students, knowing who she was.  Her pupils called her “Mrs Kate.”

In 2004, the Duchess of Kent co-founded Youth Talent, a “charity supporting young musicians from low-income backgrounds in the UK for 20 years.” She continued to support the music program, but stepped away from full-time teaching to concentrate on Youth Talent.

“I don’t like being a public figure, and I say that very humbly. It’s my nature, the way I was born.  I like doing things quietly behind the scenes. I’m a very shy person, and I’m fiercely proud of my Yorkshire roots, fiercely proud.

“Just as I am proud of my connection with my husband’s family. You don’t change just because you marry. Music was my passion before I married, even as a child, and it’s still what I do from the heart.”

One evening in 2013, the duke went to say goodnight to his wife. He tried to lift his arm up to turn off the light.  He said to Katharine: “That’s very odd.  I can’t lift my arm.”   Katharine sat up and responded with: “Can you really not? I think you might be having a stroke.”   He thought her comment was ridiculous.  She didn’t, and she called for an ambulance. The Duke was taken to the hospital, where he learned he had suffered a minor stroke.  Katharine’s intuition made sure that her husband’s stroke was caught and treated quickly.

In her book, The House of Kent, Ursula Bloom believed that the Duke and Duchess of Kent would “live happily ever after.”  The vicissitudes, the tragedies, and their personalities made the “happily ever after” too difficult to achieve.  They survived 64 years of marriage. In her final two decades, the Duchess of Kent forged her own path, usually out of the royal limelight.  She and her husband lived together in wisteria-covered Wren Cottage at Kensington Palace.  Every week, Eddie escorted his wife to her hairdresser.  

The photo is from several years ago.  Courtesy of Hugo Vickers

The Duke and Duchess of Kent survived numerous crises in their marriage.  In the last years of her life, Katharine’s heart, faith, and Eddie’s love for her may have brought more understanding, compassion, and appreciation for each other.

The late HRH Duchess of Kent was involved in many organizations during her life as a member of the British Royal Family, including the Samaritans, Age Concern, Cancer Appeal Macmillan Fund, Helen House Hospice for Children, Youth Talent, Wimbledon,  British Army Honorary Major General,  Choir Schools Association,  Royal Northern College of Music, National Foundation for Youth Music, UNICEF, among many others.

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