Duchess of Kent, royalty who chose the Catholic faith

- Simon Caldwell (OSV News).

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, in a Sept. 5 statement, said he remembered "fondly" the memory of the Duchess of Kent, born Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley, who converted to Catholicism in 1994.

"I received with sadness the news today of the death of Her Royal Highness, Catherine, Duchess of Kent," said Cardinal Nichols, president of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

"I fondly remember his presence in our community, especially his participation in the pilgrimage to Lourdes, as well as his life of public service," Cardinal Nichols said.

'Prayers of the Catholic Community'.

"I have written to His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent and assured him of the prayers of the Catholic community in England and Wales," the cardinal continued. "We pray that God will receive her soul into heaven, as promised to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. May Catherine rest in peace and rise in glory."

The Duchess was received into the faith by Cardinal Basil Hume in 1994 in a private ceremony at Westminster Cathedral. And as early as the 1980s she discussed the possibility of converting to Catholicism. She was the first British royal to join the Catholic faith since 1685.

An active and committed Catholic

From then on, the Duchess of Kent became an active and committed Catholic, often helping the sick and elderly on pilgrimages to the Marian shrine of Lourdes in France, for example.

She became a patron of the Samaritans, a charity whose aim is to provide emotional support to anyone in emotional distress. And struggling to cope or at risk of suicide throughout the UK and Ireland. 

He also completed a 10-week training course to enable him to work four-hour shifts counseling people on the verge of suicide. He also supported 'The Passage', a charity run by the Catholic Church for homeless people.

The Duchess rarely used her title of Royal Highness and increasingly preferred anonymity to royal duties. Eventually, she disappeared from public life and opted to teach at an elementary school in Hull, northern England, from 1996 to 2004.

'Driven by the love of music and children'.

"She made weekly 400-mile round-trips to teach, driven by a love of music and children," her own charity, Future Talent, said in her obituary.

"Deliberately inconspicuous, she was known simply as 'Mrs. Kent,' and her students and their parents were unaware of who she really was," the charity stated.

The death of the duchess was announced "with deep regret" by Buckingham Palace in a statement to the media on September 5.

The statement said the duchess "passed away peacefully" at Kensington Palace, her London residence, "surrounded by her family."

The note added that King Charles III and Queen Camilla, and "all members of the Royal Family, join the Duke of Kent, his children and grandchildren in mourning her loss. And to remember with affection the Duchess's lifelong devotion to all the organizations with which she was associated, her passion for music and her empathy for young people."

Burial on September 16 in Windsor

On Sept. 6, Buckingham Palace said the duchess will be buried at Windsor after a requiem mass on Sept. 16 at Westminster Cathedral in London.

The statement said that initially the Duchess's coffin "will rest in the private chapel at Kensington Palace," before being moved by hearse to the cathedral on Sept. 15, where "the Rite of Reception and Vespers will take place."

The coffin will rest overnight in the Chapel of the Virgin and the King, Queen and other members of the Royal Family will join mourners for the funeral the following day.

Cardinal Nichols to preside at the funeral

According to British media reports, Cardinal Nichols will preside at the funeral, which will also be attended by the Anglican Dean of Windsor.

The duchess came from a wealthy, but not aristocratic, family and became the first untitled person to marry a member of the British royal family since the Tudor period. She married Edward, Duke of Kent and cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, in 1961.

Her first child, George, was born in 1962, followed by Helen in 1964 and Nicholas in 1970. In 1975, she contracted measles during pregnancy and aborted her fourth child on medical advice and after consultation with Anglican religious authorities.

Human life, a gift from God

The experience had a profound impact on her life, and in 1977 she was unable to deliver a speech to the British Congress of Obstetricians. Instead, it (the text) was read on her behalf, the Telegraph said in its massive obituary of the duchess.

In his speech, he expressed the view that human life was a gift from God and praised the pro-life movement.

Two years later, she lost her fifth child, baby Patrick, when he was stillborn. "It had a most devastating effect on me," she later said, the BBC reported. 

 "I suffered from acute depression for a while. I think I'd be a pretty rare person if I didn't succumb under those circumstances," he said.

For decades it was considered a beacon of empathy.

However, for decades, the Duchess was considered a true beacon of empathy and associated with the annual international tennis tournament at Wimbledon, London. She presented the Women's Singles Trophy from 1976 to 2001 on all but three occasions.

One example became iconic when in 1993, the Duchess of Kent comforted a devastated Jana Novotna, a Czech tennis player who lost the final, by simply hugging her. 

She is survived by her husband and three sons, the youngest of whom, Nicholas, followed her to the Catholic faith in 2001.

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Simon Caldwell writes for OSV News from Liverpool, England. 

This information was originally published in OSV News. You can consult it here.

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