Katharine, Duchess of Kent at the Chelsea Flower Show, London, May 22, 2000. Photo: Getty Images
Katherine, Duchess of Kent, was the oldest living member of the Royal Family. Born Katharine Worsley, from an aristocratic land-owning family in Yorkshire, she married Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent (a first cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II) in 1961. A mother of three, she gave birth to a stillborn son, Patrick, in 1977. She endured serious depression as a result, a condition she spoke about publicly. 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". She worked from the mid-1990s as a part-time music teacher at Wansbeck Primary School in Kingston upon Hull, without parents or pupils knowing about her royal background, but was also an active member of the Royal Family. She was patron of several charities and was perhaps best known for her love of tennis: for more than three decades she presented the Ladies' Singles Trophy at Wimbledon. The Duchess of Kent died on September 16 aged 92. — Agencies/Allied Media
