Katharine, Duchess of Kent
HRH Catherine, Duchess of Kent, GCVO ( born February 22, 1933, Hovingham Hall, Yorkshire born, as Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley ), is by marrying a member of the British royal family. She is the wife of Prince Edward, a grandson of King George V and Queen Mary, and cousin of Queen Elizabeth II
Childhood and youth
Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley was born on her parents' country estate Hovingham Hall, Yorkshire, near York in the north of England and is the 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, arose from the later, the chemical company Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI ).
Her education enjoyed at Queen Margaret 's School near York and on the Runton Hill School in Norfolk. During her school years, she was introduced to music and studied piano, organ and violin playing, which she still plays today. Your musical knowledge they solidified in a girls' boarding school in Oxford. Later she worked in a children's home in York and a sister school in London.
Marriage and descendants
On June 8, 1961, she married Prince Edward, 2nd Duke of Kent, the eldest son of Prince George, 1st Duke of Kent and Princess Marina, in York Minster. The Duchess had the Duke met in 1956 in Catterick, when he was stationed there as a soldier, and became engaged in March 1961 with him.
HM The Queen HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
- HRH The Prince of Wales HRH The Duchess of Cornwall HRH The Duke of Cambridge HRH The Duchess of Cambridge HRH Prince George of Cambridge
- HRH Princess Beatrice of York
- HRH Princess Eugenie of York
- HRH The Duke of Gloucester HRH The Duchess of Gloucester
- HRH The Duke of Kent HRH The Duchess of Kent
- HRH Prince Michael of Kent HRH Princess Michael of Kent
- HRH Princess Alexandra
The Duke and Duchess of Kent have three children:
- George Philip Nicholas Windsor, Earl of St Andrews ( born June 26, 1962)
- Lady Helen Marina Lucy Taylor (born 28 April 1964)
- Lord Nicholas Charles Edward Jonathan Windsor ( born July 25, 1970)
Private life
1975 suffered the Duchess at the age of 42 years, a miscarriage and stillbirth in 1977, which she fell into a deep depression. In the early 1980s there was a divorce from her husband in the room, while, however, uttered Queen Elizabeth II. After the Duchess seemed to have recovered from their mental health problems in the early 1980s, she retired from in the late 1990s from public life completely back. Since the late 2000s, she takes occasional public appearances again true, such as the occasion of the inauguration of a bronze statue of the Queen Mother in 2009, or at the meeting of the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace at the Trooping the Colour 2010 and 2011. the duchess and the duke live separate lives since the 1980s, but remained married and appeared to public events together, as in 2011 at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton and 2012 to mark the diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
In private life, it preferred the Duchess to be named Katharine Kent. Nevertheless, she expressed her preference, as Katharine, Duchess of Kent to be known, a term as it otherwise is only payable to divorced or widowed nobleman. My official title is Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent.
The official residence of the Duke and Duchess 's Wren House in the grounds of Kensington Palace in London, although the Duchess lives in a nearby apartment in everyday life.
Interests
Music
The Duchess feels strongly connected to the world of music and was a member of several choirs. From 1996 to 2004 she worked under the name 'Mrs. Kent ' as a music teacher in Kingston upon Hull, without that their students knew their true identity. In 2004, she founded the Foundation Future talent, approach leads young people in childhood to the music and promotes young talent. The Duchess is a curator of the National Foundation for Youth Music in London, chairman of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and ambassador for the Aldeburgh Productions in Suffolk.
Sports
The Duchess was from the 1970s to 2001, known for handing over the winning trophies for the female winner at the Wimbledon Championships held annually. They took over this role from her mother Princess Marina, who had been since her husband's death in 1942 and until her own death in 1968 President of the All England Tennis Club. In 1969, their son, Edward Duke, president of the tennis club and his wife, Duchess Catherine, the presentation of the winners trophies took over the women's finals. The male winners traditionally presented the Duke the trophies. With its warm and casual appearance - such as its comforting embrace of Jana Novotná on Centre Court, which had lost in 1993 against Steffi Graf - the Duchess won many admirers. In 1999, however, had given to the line of the All England Tennis Club detune seats in the royal box. After the Wimbledon Championships 2001, the Duchess gave her official role on at the tennis championships at Wimbledon as part of its retreat from public life. Since then, the trophies for the first and second winners in both the men's and the women's finals will be awarded by her husband alone.
Catholic Church
The Duchess gained great attention due to their conversion to Catholicism in 1994, which the first public conversion of a higher-ranking member of the royal family represented since the adoption of the Act of Settlement in 1701. This was a personal decision and it received the approval of the Queen. It is also governed by the Act of Settlement of 1701 that a member of the royal family loses his place in the line of succession, if it marries a Catholic. However, this is not explicitly regulated, how it behaves when the conversion to Catholicism is made later after marriage. Because of the Duke of Kent 's place has not lost in the British throne ( 24th place ).
The youngest son of the Duchess, Lord Nicholas Windsor, her grandson Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick, and her granddaughter Lady Marina -Charlotte Windsor are also Catholics. Their eldest son, George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, the father of Lord Downpatrick, married a Catholic and thus lost his place in the British throne.
Title
- Miss Katharine Worsley (February 22, 1933 - June 8, 1961 )
- Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent (since 8 June 1961)