Duchess of Kent at 90

The Duchess of Kent will be 90 on 22nd February.

Throughout much of 2021, I conducted a number of Zooms with the Duke of Kent, which became the book of conversations, A Royal Life

The question I was frequently asked was ‘How and where is the Duchess?’

She retains a large number of fans, who remember her charismatic appearances at Wimbledon (in 1993 famously consoling the Czech-born player, Jana Novotná, when she lost), her style and her beauty.

They recall how, for many decades, she was a popular member of the Royal Family, carrying out an enormous number of engagements, not only in Britain but as far afield as Iran, Uganda, the Gambia, Barbados, Tonga and Japan.

The answer is that she is very much there at Wren House, the Duke’s home in the grounds of Kensington Palace.

He takes her once a week to the hairdresser’s and, at the end of May last year, she came out to attend a Future Talent concert at Lancaster House, not having attended such an event for about three years.

In 2013, she acted swiftly when the Duke had a mild stroke, insisting on calling an ambulance immediately, and thus he made a full recovery.

The Duke spoke of her often and, one day, during a Zoom discussion, she made a surprise appearance. There was a click and a door opened. She drifted silently behind him as he spoke, and then there was another click as she left.

Then, not long afterwards, he said, ‘Katharine says there can’t be a book about me without her being in it.’

I was invited to come and see her for a chat. I was able to show her some digitalised cine films the Duke had found. One scene showed him walking to a new Jaguar at Coppins, formerly the Buckinghamshire home of the Kents.

She said, ‘That’s my husband. That’s the way he walks. He walked like that then and he walks like that now.’

There were scenes of croquet matches, games of tennis (Princess Marina playing in a tweed skirt), water-skiing in Majorca, picnics and lots of dogs. She gave me the line with which to end the book. I was keen to stress the Duke’s lifelong support for the Queen:

‘Well, that’s absolutely perfect. Exactly what he does,’ she said.

She was born Katharine Worsley in Yorkshire, and Yorkshire remains close to her heart. She adored her father, Sir William Worsley, Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding and a keen cricketer. When Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, she was pleased because he represents a Yorkshire constituency (Richmond).

Having married the Duke in 1961, she soon became one of the most popular members of the Royal Family, the subject of many stunning photographic portraits by Cecil Beaton, Norman Parkinson and Mario Testino, painted by Annigoni, and a stylish, original dresser.

She considered it a great privilege to have been able to visit so many countries as part of her royal duties, to meet so many interesting people in all kinds of walks of life, to talk to them and to hear about their lives.

Above all, they loved their year in Hong Kong, when the Duke was stationed there. And then there is music, a strong interest shared by Duke and

Duchess alike. Lady Helen Taylor said her mother was a pianist of almost concert standard.

There came a point when the Duchess asked the Queen if she could step aside from her royal duties, as Chancellor of Leeds University, conducting service appointments and involvement with a great number of charities. Permission was readily given.

She set off to Hull, where she found her late-life métier, giving singing lessons once a week at Wansbeck Primary School. Her granddaughters Marina and Amelia were at King’s College School, Cambridge. In 2003 the headmaster, Nick Robinson, invited her to open a new library and classroom.

She said she no longer did that kind of thing, but he suggested she come more informally.

So she did – and they had a long discussion about the lack of musical facilities in Hull, and how aware she was that when she stopped teaching there, she would not be replaced. From this sprang the charity Future Talent, of which she is still a Trustee.

They set it up and it gives music support and master classes, runs ensemble days and workshops, and contributes to the cost of instruments and to underprivileged children between the ages of 6 and 18. From small beginnings, they now support 100 musical children – roughly 50 in the north and 50 in the south.

‘Apart from the King, she is the only senior member of the Royal Family to have set up her own charity,’ said Nick Robinson. ‘Prince Philip had his Award Scheme, of course.’

It seems to me that the perfect 90th-birthday present for her would be a donation to futuretalent.org; a gift in her name to the children whose lives will be for ever changed by music.