She wore a tiara that belonged to Queen Mary of Teck on her wedding day and was the eight-times- great-granddaughter of Oliver Cromwell. But Katharine, the Duchess of Kent, gave up her royal life and status to be known simply as Mrs Kent by her pupils at a primary school in Hull.
Her extraordinary life came to a end on 4 September, plunging the royal family into mourning for the wife of Edward, Duke of Kent, who was 92 when she passed away. The original royal trailblazer, Kate – as she was known to her family and friends – grew up in North Yorkshire and had no formal education, except for piano lessons.
Meeting Prince Edward
At 16, she dreamed of being a musician but failed to get into the Royal Academy of Music, which she called “one of my biggest disappointments”, instead headed off to a finishing school in Oxford. In 1957, she met 21-year- old Prince Edward, who was the Queen’s first cousin, at a ball. He was an army officer stationed nearby and the pair became fast friends.
It wasn’t long before Kate met his mother, Princess Marina, and Edward developed a close relationship with her father, William, after losing his own, Prince George, in a plane crash when he was six.
They married on 8 June 1961.
A fairytale gown
She wore a gown made from 216m of white silk gauze and later said, “It was all a dream. I couldn’t believe what was happening.”
With her pageboy bob and enviable style, the duchess quickly became a favourite on best-dressed lists. She also became synonymous with Wimbledon tennis, presenting trophies with her husband
and famously comforting a tearful Jana Novotná after she lost the final in 1993, telling her, “I know you will win it one day. Don’t worry.”
A victory fulfilled
Jana went on to win in 1998. Behind the public glamour of her public life, the duchess worked tirelessly for causes close to her heart. In 1971, she became a patron of the charity Samaritans. Without any fanfare, she completed the training and worked answering phone calls for the charity every Wednesday.
She later said the experience “taught me an enormous amount about life”.
Understanding pain through service
She added, “If you’re going to spend quite a few months talking to people who are suicidal mainly through loneliness, you do begin to understand people and their problems.”
Katharine wasn’t afraid to reveal her own darkest days either. She is credited with breaking barriers by speaking about giving birth to a stillborn son named Patrick in 1975. She subsequently spent seven weeks at King Edward VII Hospital for “nervous strain”.
Coping with loss
In 1997, she said, “It had the most devastating effect on me. 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. I don’t think I gave myself time to get over it. Probably I didn’t grieve properly.”
In 1996, Katharine withdrew from royal duties and became a teacher at Wansbeck Primary School in Hull after finding out the school did not have a music teacher. For the next 13 years, she took a train to Hull every Friday to teach music. In 2022, she said, “I was just known as Mrs Kent – only the head knew who I was.”
Finding purpose in music education
She also set up her own charity, Future Talent, to provide mentorship to gifted children to develop their musical talent. She also had an unlikely devotion to rap music, loving Eminem
and Ice Cube.
Katharine returned to the classroom in 2017 at age 84 after the Grenfell Tower fire, teaching music once again to children who had lived in the tower.
“Teaching is very satisfying,” she said.
“It’s a privilege.”
