The doyenne of the British monarchy, Wimbledon figure and music teacher Catherine de Kent has just celebrated her 91st birthday.

With the death of Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022, who died at the age of 96, she became the oldest member of the British royal family. Catherine, Duchess of Kent, celebrated her 91st birthday this Thursday, February 22. Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley was born in 1933, the only daughter and youngest child of Sir William Worsley. She grew up at Hovingham Hall, near York, an estate that has been in her family since the early 18th century, and joined the British monarchy when she married Prince Edward in June 1961. Her husband, now 88, is a direct cousin of the deceased. Elizabeth II. With this marriage, she was the first non-titled person to marry a member of the royal family in a century.

The simplicity of “Madame Kent.”

Despite her title, Catherine always described herself as “an ordinary Yorkshire lass”. The Duke and Duchess of Kent could have married at Westminster Abbey, but Catherine, who has always described herself as a ‘Yorkshire doll’, a Yorkshire lass, absolutely insisted that the ceremony take place on her home soil. It was therefore at the Minster of York that the Duke and Duchess of Kent were married. At their wedding, the young bride still wore a Kentish tiara with a diamond and pearl fringe and a dress designed by John Cavanagh.

The Duchess of Kent cared so little for the prestige of her title that in 2002, when she retired from her royal duties and began a career as a music teacher, she wrote to Elizabeth II, then Queen of England, asking her: cancel his title with the inscription “His Royal Highness”. She then explains that she poses as Madame Kent at her workplace. “Only the principal knew who I was,” he said BBC Radio 3 In 2005, parents didn’t know, and neither did the students. No one ever noticed. There was no publicity about it, it seems to have worked.” However, she continues to be referred to as the Duchess of Kent in the Court Circular, the official register of previous royal engagements.

Figure from Wimbledon

While she was still actively engaged in her royal duties, the Duchess of Kent became known for her constant presence at the Wimbledon tennis tournament. For almost 30 years he was the one who presented the trophies to the finalists. A role played today by Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales. One of the most memorable images remains the Duchess of Kent tearfully comforting Jana Novotna as she had just lost to Steffi Graf in the 1993 women’s tournament final.

Love of music

Before marrying Prince Edward, Catherine worked at an orphanage in York and then a nursery in London before studying music at Miss Huber’s Finishing School in Oxford. A discipline to which he devoted his whole life. In an interview with the Oxford Mail in 2010, he confided: “Music is the most important thing in my life. This is the reason and purpose of everything.” Moreover, it was teaching music that she devoted herself to fully after retiring from her royal duties in 2002. She was 69 at the time when she moved to Hull to become a music teacher at Wansbeck Primary School. He stayed there for 13 years.

A loose word

Following their marriage, the Kents welcomed their first child, George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, born on 26 June 1962. Two more children followed, Lady Helen Taylor (born 28 April 1964) and Lord Nicholas Windsor (born 25 July). 1970). After that, the Duchess of Kent experienced two sad events that forced her to speak about topics that were even more taboo then than they are today. In 1975, suffering from German measles, she had a miscarriage. Two years later, on October 5, 1977, she gave birth to her fourth child, a stillborn son named Patrick.

I quickly realized that this happens to a lot of people

Catherine, Duchess of Kent

in the interview given to Telegraph: In 1997, the Duchess confided in the depression that followed this bereavement. “It had the most devastating effect on me. I had no idea what a devastating effect something like that could have on a woman.” She then says she first “got herself back” into her royal duties before being admitted to hospital for seven weeks of treatment. “I am not at all ashamed of this period,” he said. It wasn’t a good time, but when I got out of it and got down to reality, I quickly realized that as horrible as it was, it happens to a lot of people.”

Despite being retired from public duties for several years, the Duchess of Kent continues to be held in very high regard in the British monarchy. However, he did not attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in 2022 or the coronation of King Charles last May. Catherine’s most recent royal appearances include the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May 2018, as well as the RAF centenary trip to the balcony of Buckingham Palace that summer.