By Isabelle Casey
Copyright hellomagazine
Tuesday was an emotional day for the royal family, who marked the death of the Duchess of Kent with a funeral service at Westminster Cathedral before being laid to rest at the Royal Burial Ground in Frogmore. While many meaningful exchanges were taking place amongst members of the Firm and the Kent family throughout the day, one in particular saw Princess Anne waving goodbye.
In the video, which you can see above, next to the Duchess of Edinburgh, you can see the Princess Royal’s hand waving to the Kent family, following the late Duchess’ Requiem Mass. As well as Anne’s meaningful gesture, Duchess Sophie too could be seen blowing kisses and waving the Kent family off.
A funeral like no other
Unlike a typical royal funeral, the Duchess of Kent’s death was honoured with a Catholic ceremony. A devout follower of the Roman Catholic faith, the duchess became the first member of the royal family to convert to Catholicism for more than 300 years, doing so in 1994, and it was her wish to have her funeral at Westminster Cathedral. The Duchess of Kent’s husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, led his children, George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, Lady Helen Taylor, and Lord Nicholas Windsor, and his grandchildren into the cathedral. Edward’s grandchildren
As well as Anne and Sophie, other senior members of the Firm, including the King, the Prince and Princess of Wales, were in attendance. Meanwhile, Queen Camilla was forced to pull out of the ceremony after falling unwell.
Breaking convention
The Duchess was known for consoling losing Wimbledon finalists, notably a tearful Jana Novotna in 1993, and presented trophies at the championships for many years. She preferred to be known as Mrs Kent and dropped her HRH style, retreating from royal life to spend more than a decade secretly teaching music in a state primary school in Hull.
Bishop James Curry, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, gave an uplifting homily highlighting the duchess’s varied public life, from training to work with the Samaritans, visiting Lourdes, or co-founding the music charity for young people Future Talent. He said: “Mrs Kent loved teaching children, knowing that a classroom is full of learners. Too often young minds, and ours, are solely defined by hurts, wounds and disappointments. “With Future Talent Mrs Kent wanted those young persons to have the opportunity to be defined by (the) gift, potential and promise they possessed and to give them the opportunity to flourish.
“And who could forget that Wimbledon moment in the ladies’ final with Jana Novotna. When questioned by the press about the embrace, Katharine simply said ‘we are human you know, it’s what you do when someone needs comfort’.”
