She "passed away peacefully last night at Kensington Palace, surrounded by her family", a statement said on Friday, with the flag on Buckingham Palace now lowered to half mast.

The duchess, Katharine, was the oldest member of the Royal Family, married to Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, a first cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

She will be remembered as a familiar figure at the Wimbledon tennis championships, where she handed over trophies - and consoled those who had lost, famously including a tearful Jana Novotna in 1993.

The duchess was also a great music lover - supporting music charities and teaching music in a Hull primary school, where pupils knew nothing of her royal identity, and where she was known as "Mrs Kent".

Perhaps the most familiar images of the duchess are from her appearances at Wimbledon, where she was regularly seen watching the tennis and stepping on to the court to give out prizes.

She gave a shoulder to cry on to the defeated Novotna - but five years later was there to hand over the trophy to the Czech tennis star.

The duchess also spoke of her deep sadness at the 49-year-old Novotna's death from cancer in 2017.

It was claimed that the duchess later fell out with Wimbledon authorities over her attempt to bring the 12-year-old son of a bereaved friend into the Royal Box.

Born as Katharine Worsley, from an aristocratic land-owning family in Yorkshire, the duchess became part of the Royal Family in 1961 when she married the Duke of Kent, a grandson of King George V.

Princess Anne was among the bridesmaids at their wedding in York Minster, with the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles in the congregation.

The duchess took on a regular round of royal duties, but throughout her life she also carved out an individual path.

She became a Catholic in 1994, the first royal to convert to Catholicism for more than 300 years, describing it as "a long-pondered personal decision".

The duchess was received into the Catholic church by the then Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Basil Hume.

She became a volunteer in the Passage homelessness charity, which Cardinal Hume had helped to set up - and which is now given high-profile support by the Prince of Wales.

AzVision.az

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