Katharine, Duchess of Kent and oldest living member of Britain’s royal family, dies at 92

Britain’s Duchess of Kent, Katharine, the wife of Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent and cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II, has died at the age of 92, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.

Born Katharine Worsley, she married into the royal family in 1961 after meeting Prince Edward several years earlier while he was posted at a military barracks in northern England. The palace said she passed away peacefully on Thursday evening at Kensington Palace, surrounded by her family.

“The King and Queen, along with 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 charities, her passion for music and her empathy for young people,” the palace said in a statement.

The Duchess became a familiar figure at Wimbledon, where she began presenting trophies in 1969. One of the tournament’s most memorable moments came in 1993, when she comforted Czech player Jana Novotna after her heartbreaking loss in the women’s singles final—offering her shoulder to cry on and assuring her that one day she would win. Novotna went on to lift the trophy five years later.

Her relationship with Wimbledon soured in 1999, however, after she was denied permission to bring the young son of a bereaved friend into the royal box.

In 1994, the Duchess made headlines when she converted to Roman Catholicism, becoming the first senior member of the royal family to do so openly since King Charles II more than three centuries earlier. The move went against the Act of Settlement of 1701, which barred royals from becoming Catholic.

Beyond her public life, she was deeply involved in music. A strong supporter of musical charities, she also spent several years teaching music at a school in Hull, in northeast England. She is survived by three children and ten grandchildren.

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Inputs from Reuters