The Duchess of Kent, the first Catholic convert in the royal family for centuries, who was known for presenting numerous Wimbledon trophies and consoling runners-up, has died aged 92.
The duchess was married to the late queen’s cousin the Duke of Kent but for decades led a separate life from him.
She will be best remembered for a moment in 1993 when she put her arm around a distraught Jana Novotná after the Czech tennis player narrowly lost the Wimbledon women’s singles final to Steffi Graf. Novotná cried on the duchess’s shoulder after blowing a 4-1 lead in the third set.
During the exchange the duchess, whose husband was president of the All England Club for more than 30 years, told Novotná: “I know you can do it.” Five years later the duchess presented her with the winning trophy.
In 1999 the duchess became disenchanted with the Wimbledon authorities when she was refused permission to take the young son of the murdered headteacher Philip Lawrence into the royal box.
The duchess, who preferred to be referred to as Katharine or Mrs Kent, dropped her HRH title when she stepped back from public life in 2002.
She went on to spend more than a decade teaching music in a state primary school in Hull. After visiting Wansbeck primary school in the city in 1996, she offered to help with music teaching and gave a weekly 40-minute lesson, as well as working with its choir. She also taught part-time in a school in Hammersmith, west London, which was attended by some of the children who lived in Grenfell Tower.
After retiring as a royal she also volunteered for Samaritans, toured countries as a Unicef ambassador and, in 2004, founded the charity Future Talent. The organisation works to break down barriers and give children from low-income backgrounds equal opportunities to excel in music.
After the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, Katharine was the oldest member of the royal family.
In 1994 she became the first royal to convert to Catholicism for more than 300 years. She is expected to have a Catholic funeral, attended by senior royals including King Charles and Queen Camilla. It will be the first Catholic funeral service held for a member of the royal family in modern British history.
Her funeral is expected to take place at Westminster Cathedral in the coming weeks. It is thought to be likely that the archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, will preside over the mass.
For many years she led a separate life from the Duke of Kent but the couple did not divorce.
Born Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley on 22 February 1933, the future duchess had an aristocratic upbringing as the only daughter of the landowner Col Sir William Worsley – a baronet – and Lady Worsley of Hovingham Hall, near York.
She married King George V’s grandson Edward, Duke of Kent, labelled Steady Eddie by the royal family for his dependable service, in a grand ceremony in York Minster in 1961 and became known for her elegant style.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement that the duchess died peacefully on Thursday evening at her Kensington Palace home surrounded by her family.
The palace said: “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.”
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