London: Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, the first senior member of the British royal family to embrace the Catholic faith since the 17th century, has died at the age of 92.
In a statement, Buckingham Palace confirmed that the Duchess passed away peacefully on Thursday evening at her Kensington Palace residence, surrounded by family. “The King and Queen, together 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 lifelong devotion to all the organisations with which she was associated, her passion for music and her empathy for young people,” the Palace said.
Born Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley in 1933 into an aristocratic Anglican family, she married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, in 1961. Her marriage marked a break with royal tradition as she was the first woman in more than a century without a peerage or princess title at birth to wed a royal duke. Together, she and the Duke represented Queen Elizabeth II at countless state occasions, royal tours, and charitable events.
Behind the public profile lay a deeply personal spiritual journey. In January 1994, she was formally received into the Catholic Church by Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster the first senior royal to do so since King Charles II’s probable deathbed conversion in 1685. At the time, her conversion carried constitutional sensitivity because of the Act of Settlement (1701), which barred Catholics or those married to Catholics from the line of succession.
The Duchess described her decision as “long-pondered and deeply personal,” explaining that she was drawn to the Church’s clarity and discipline: “I do love guidelines, and the Catholic Church offers you guidelines. I have always wanted that in my life. I like to know what’s expected of me.”
Her move toward Catholicism was shaped by personal loss. In 1975, she suffered the heartbreak of a medically advised abortion after contracting measles during pregnancy. Two years later, she lost another child late in pregnancy a grief she described as “devastating.” These tragedies deepened her empathy for families facing loss and inspired her devotion to prayer, pilgrimages, and Catholic spirituality.
She was a familiar figure at the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, and later at Lourdes, where she frequently joined pilgrimages with her parish. Her quiet faith also influenced her family; in 2001, her son Lord Nicholas Windsor became the first male blood member of the royal family to become a Catholic in over 300 years.
The Duchess devoted herself to charitable causes, serving as patron of the Samaritans and co-founding Future Talent, which provides support for underprivileged young musicians. Her own love of music took a humble turn in the 2000s when she secretly taught music at a Hull primary school for more than a decade, known simply as “Mrs. Kent.” Only the headteacher was aware of her royal identity. “The music did such wonderful things. It really did,” she reflected in a 2022 interview.
Her compassion was also memorably on display at Wimbledon in 1993, when she broke royal protocol to comfort Czech player Jana Novotná, who wept on her shoulder after a painful loss in the women’s singles final.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, remembered her with “fondness” for her witness of faith and her pilgrimages to Lourdes. The Prince and Princess of Wales praised her as a tireless supporter of charitable work who would be “deeply missed.”
Broadcaster Colin Brazier described her on social media as “a public figure of genuine humility, even holiness, in a world of bombast, self-promotion and vanity.”
The Duchess’s funeral will be held at Westminster Cathedral in the coming weeks, marking the first Catholic funeral for a senior royal in modern British history a fitting conclusion to the life of a woman remembered for her quiet faith, compassion, and service.
Source: CNA