DUCHESS OF KENT at 90
Inside the secret life of the most reclusive royal
There is no handbook for how to navigate the harsh spotlight of royal life. In 1961 Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley was plunged into the heart of the British monarchy when she married Prince Edward, the Queen’s cousin.
Before she became a duchess, Katharine was a nursery worker, talented musician and the daughter of Sir William Worsley 4th Baronet, who had captained Yorkshire Cricket Club. She was just 24 when she first met Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, eldest son of Prince George and Princess Marina of Greece. Katharine had been attending a party near Edward’s military regiment at Catterick Camp. It was a match made in heaven for the pair, who were cut from the same aristocratic cloth.
In June 1961 Katharine and Edward married in a ceremony that broke centuries of royal tradition. Rather than tying the knot at Westminster Abbey or Saint Paul’s Cathedral, where many a royal couple have said ‘I do’, Katharine opted to marry in her home county of Yorkshire. A royal wedding had not been held in York Minster for over 600 years.
Katharine wore a decidedly 1960s wedding dress, which had been hand-picked by her future mother-in-law, Princess Marina. At the time, reports claimed Katharine’s entourage were worried the dress would be too awkward to manoeuvre and that she might be unable to curtsy. Was this a subtle foreshadowing of Katharine’s difficult royal life to come?
As author Mary Riddell wrote in her 1999 biography The Duchess of Kent: The troubled life of Katharine Worsley, her marriage to
‘I had no idea how devastating it could be’
Edward plucked her from aristocratic anonymity and dropped her straight into ‘a life for which she was ill-prepared’.
‘However, she made a staunch soldier’s wife for the Duke and came to endure the shadow of her formidable mother-in-law, Princess Marina,’ Riddell wrote. ‘The Duchess remains a complex woman, riven with her own demons and perhaps never quite at ease with the Royal Family.’
Katharine and
Edward welcomed three children: George, Earl of St Andrews, now 60;
Lady Helen Taylor, 58; and Lord Nicholas Windsor, 52.
But the duchess’ journey to motherhood was far from a fairytale. Katharine had to have a devastating termination in 1975 after she contracted rubella (German measles) during pregnancy; and then, in 1977, she gave birth to a fourth child, Patrick, who was stillborn. She endured a tragic 36-hour battle to try and save Patrick’s life but ultimately, the death left her heartbroken and traumatised.
‘It had the most devastating effect on me,’ she told London’s The Daily Telegraph in 1997. ‘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.’
Katharine threw herself into her royal duties in an attempt to curb her grief. But it proved unsuccessful. In 1978 she was hospitalised for several weeks due to ‘nervous strain’. Reports at the time said she had been suffering from coeliac disease and Epstein- Barr virus. After a tough few years for the duchess, she recovered and managed to resume most of her royal duties.
Katharine became close friends with Princess Diana during her time as a working royal, with both women spending a lot of time in Kensington Palace. It is believed she felt an affinity with the late Princess of Wales, whom she watched struggle through divorce. Some reports claim the Duke and Duchess of Kent were estranged and also asked the Queen for a divorce, but it was denied.
Katharine never truly recovered from the trauma of losing her baby. It had an impact on her ability to represent the Queen and Commonwealth for decades. ‘She often looked like a haunted, hunted woman…. Increasingly reticent about public appearances, worn and dispirited,’ Riddell wrote.
The Duchess of Kent wrote to the Queen to officially relinquish her duties in 1996, and in 2002 she rescinded Her Royal Highness title, 41 years after marrying into the royal family. She stepped away from public life and accepted a job as a teacher, fulfilling her lifelong desire to pursue music education. Known simply as ‘Katharine’ instead of HRH, the former working royal spent 13 years teaching music at a school in Hull, Yorkshire.
‘I was just Mrs Kent,’ she told The Sunday Telegraph in 2022. ‘Only the head knew who I was. The parents didn’t know and the pupils didn’t know. No one ever noticed.
There was no publicity about it at all – it just seemed to work.’
Katharine celebrated her 90th birthday at the end of February. In recent decades she has remained out of the royal spotlight, only appearing at a handful of royal events. She was at the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, but did not attend the Queen’s funeral, although her husband was present for the service.
To mark her milestone birthday the duchess made a rare appearance in a video to promote her charity,
Future Talent. ‘If they believe in themselves, they can do it,’ Katharine said in the clip.
‘And we can help them do it.’