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Katharine, The Duchess of Kent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Katharine | |
|---|---|
| Duchess of Kent | |
 |
|
| Spouse | The Duke of Kent |
| Issue | |
| George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews Lady Helen Taylor Lord Nicholas Windsor |
|
| Full name | |
| Katharine Lucy Mary Windsor | |
| Titles | |
| HRH The Duchess of Kent Miss Katharine Worsley |
|
| Royal house | House of Windsor |
| Father | Sir William Worsley, 4th Bt. |
| Mother | Joyce Morgan |
| Born | 22 February 1933 Hovingham Hall, Yorkshire |
| Occupation | Music Teacher |
The Duchess of Kent (Katharine Lucy Mary Windsor; born Worsley, 22 February 1933) is a member of the British Royal Family, the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, a grandson of King George V and cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Duchess of Kent gained attention for her conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1994, the first senior royal convert publicly since the passing of the Act of Settlement 1701. The Duchess of Kent is strongly associated with the world of music, and has performed as a member of several choirs. She is also well-known as the presenter of trophies at the annual Wimbledon lawn tennis championships – a role she inherited from her mother-in-law, Princess Marina.
The Duchess's warm and informal manner has won her many admirers. She prefers to be known in her private life as Katharine Kent, and in 2002, she voluntarily gave up the style of Royal Highness, though she continues to be styled as such in the Court Circular. She also has expressed a preference for being known formally as Katharine, Duchess of Kent, a style usually reserved for divorced peeresses.
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Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley was born at Hovingham Hall, Yorkshire, and was the only daughter of Sir William Arthrington Worsley, Bt., and his wife, Joyce Morgan, daughter of Sir John Fowler Brunner, Bt. and granddaughter of Sir John Tomlinson Brunner, Bt., the founder of Brunner Mond, which later became ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries).
She was educated at Queen Margaret's School near York and at Runton Hill School in Norfolk. At school she was introduced to music, and was taught to play the piano, organ and violin, which she still plays today. She later worked for some time in a children's home in York and worked at a nursery school in London, before going on to Oxford to study music.
On 8 June 1961, she married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the eldest son of Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, at York Minster. After her marriage she was styled Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent.
The Duke and Duchess of Kent have three children:
- George Philip Nicholas Windsor, Earl of St. Andrews, (born 26 June 1962);
- Lady Helen Taylor, (born 28 April 1964);
- Lord Nicholas Windsor, (born 25 July 1970).
The couple also had a stillborn child in 1977, a loss that caused the Duchess to fall into a state of severe depression, which she has spoken about publicly.
The Duchess of Kent was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1994. This was a personal decision, and she received the approval of the Queen. As she explained in an interview on BBC, "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. I like being told: You shall go to church on Sunday and if you don't you're in for it!"
Although the Act of Settlement 1701 means a member of the Royal Family marrying a Catholic relinquishes their right of succession to the British throne, the Act does not include marriage to an Anglican who subsequently becomes a Catholic. Therefore, the Duke of Kent did not lose his place in the line of succession to the British throne.
Since then her younger son, Lord Nicholas Windsor, and her grandson, Lord Downpatrick, have also become Catholics. Her older son, the Earl of St. Andrews, father of Lord Downpatrick, is married to a Catholic and thus has been excluded from the succession.
The Duchess of Kent decided to relinquish her royal style in 2002 and reduce the amount of royal duties she carries out. She became the second person in the royal family to do so (the first being Princess Patricia of Connaught). Since then she has been informally known as Katharine Kent. Her formal style remains HRH The Duchess of Kent however, and this is how she is styled in the Court Circular. However, when she made a formal appearance to hand out awards at the BBC's Young Musician of the Year competition in 2002, she asked the organizers to introduce her as "Katharine, Duchess of Kent."
In line with her less formal role, the Duchess took a position as a music teacher in Wansbeck Primary School in Kingston upon Hull. In 2005 the Duchess spoke in an interview on BBC Radio 3 of her liking of rap music and of the singer/songwriter, Dido, whose record, Thank You, she chose as one of her favourite pieces of music.
The Duchess has been dogged by press reports that she and her husband have lived apart for many years and that they intend to divorce; however, the divorce reports have not been substantiated. Reports by the BBC have stated that the Duchess suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome, while the Mail on Sunday reported that she suffers from depression.
As she told the BBC in 2004, when asked to comment on rumours about her being depressed, "Aren't we all? We all get slightly low periods in our lives, don't we?" In 1998, she told an interviewer about her lack of confidence. "I can still be very shy walking into a room full of strangers," she said. "I know how to do it, but I have never gained confidence. It is one of the reasons I am always trying to boost other people's self-esteem – because I know what it's like not to have it."
- 22 February 1933-8 June 1961: Miss Katharine Worsley
- 8 June 1961-: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent
- GCVO: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 9 June 1977
- Queen Elizabeth II Royal Family Order, 2nd Class
- Honorary Major-General, British Army
- Colonel-in-Chief, of Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire
- Deputy Colonel-in-Chief, of Adjutant General's Corps
- Deputy Colonel-in-Chief, of Royal Dragoon Guards
- Deputy Colonel-in-Chief, of Royal Logistic Corps
| Order of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Duchess of Gloucester |
United Kingdom order of precedence Ladies |
Succeeded by Princess Michael of Kent |
| Academic Offices | ||
| Preceded by Mary, Princess Royal |
Chancellor of the University of Leeds 1965 – 1998 |
Succeeded by Melvyn Bragg |
HM The Queen · HRH The Duchess of Cornwall and Rothesay · HRH The Countess of Wessex · HRH The Princess Royal
HRH Princess Beatrice of York · HRH Princess Eugenie of York · Lady Louise Windsor
HRH The Duchess of Gloucester · HRH The Duchess of Kent · HRH Princess Michael of Kent · HRH Princess Alexandra, The Hon Lady Ogilvy