Member of the royal family who performed her duties with modesty and empathy before focusing on her private passions including teaching music
The Duchess of Kent, who has died aged 92, was the most unassuming and one of the most popular members of the royal family, having married into it when she wed the Duke of Kent, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II in 1961. As such, she was entitled to be called Her Royal Highness, a title which she surrendered when she gave up royal duties. As wife of a royal duke, she lost her surname, though she preferred to be known simply as Katharine Kent.
In a family whose members can seem weighed down by their concept of duty, for many years she embraced hers and was a devoted participant in charity work, supporting dozens of organisations. She blazed with empathy and was noted for her diffidence and informality: “I have never liked barriers,” she said. “I find it very hard to arrive and be thought different and perhaps formal.”
It was said she was “a very private woman, who carries off her duties often with more warmth than those born to it”. Latterly, ill health made her increasingly reclusive and more reluctant to carry out official duties, though she did attend the weddings of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. She often travelled by public transport, unrecognised.
