By Editor,Monique Rubins

Copyright dailymail

The Royal Family has shared a moving tribute to the late Duchess of Kent ahead of her funeral in London today. Katharine, Duchess of Kent, died ‘peacefully’ at Kensington Palace on September 4, surrounded by her loved ones after a period of ill health, and last night her coffin was carried in a royal hearse to Westminster Cathedral. Today, as King Charles, Prince William, Kate and other senior royals joined the mourners arriving for her funeral, the Royal Family’s official Instagram account published 14 photographs of the Duchess, offering a powerful overview of her long and varied life.

‘Today, The Royal Family will gather at Westminster Cathedral to remember the life of The Duchess of Kent,’ the post was captioned. ‘Proudly of Yorkshire heritage, Her Royal Highness became a working Member of The Royal Family following her marriage to The Duke of Kent in 1961.’ One of the images showed the famous moment Katharine, who grew up in Hovingham Hall near York, comforted tennis player Jana Novotna after she lost to Steffi Graff in the 1993 Wimbledon women’s final. Katharine was presenting Jana with the runner-up prize, a silver plate, when the sportswoman broke down in tears.

The duchess kindly put her arm around the tennis star and offered her a hug – a touching moment that was captured on camera. In a second photo, Katharine was seen with activist and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela in 1998. Elsewhere, the duchess was shown at different ages in both public and private settings. Two pictures were from her 1961 wedding to Prince Edward at York Minister, where a 28-year-old Katharine wore a dress made from over 200 yards of French silk gauze by Irish designer John Cavanagh. In an image which appeared to be from the sixties, Katharine was dressed in the fashion of the day, including a bold black and white, belted peacoat with a matching pillbox hat.

Another photo showed her dressed in a floral pink A-line dress holding her newborn baby, and in another, she was seen smiling and greeting crowds while travelling abroad. Befitting of her down-to-earth career as a music teacher, the duchess was seen caring for two children in another of the photos. Footage from the presentation was today shared by Wimbledon on its own Instagram page, along with a caption describing it as ‘one of Wimbledon’s most memorable moments.’

A vigil was held last night ahead of Katharine’s funeral today. Her daughter, Lady Helen Taylor, walked arm-in-arm with Prince Edward who was seen walking with a cane at the ceremony held in honour of the late royal. Katharine’s coffin was carried out of Kensington Palace for the final time on Monday evening ahead of her funeral. It was transported in a royal hearse, designed by Queen Elizabeth, from her home in Kensington to Westminster Cathedral for a private vigil with her immediate family.

The hearse was led by a military piper from The Royal Dragoon Guards, a regiment the Duchess supported as deputy Colonel-in-Chief since its inception in 1992, for the first few minutes of the journey. Other service personnel from the regiment formed the bearer party carrying the coffin into the cathedral. After the funeral today, the coffin will be taken by hearse to the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore, on the Windsor estate, for a private burial ceremony. Flags will be half-masted at all official Royal Residences flying the Union flag today.

Aside from being the first Catholic funeral in three centuries, Katharine’s is the first royal funeral at Westminster Cathedral, in Victoria, central London, since its construction in 1903. Katharine, with her husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, had three children: Lady Helen Taylor, George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, and Lord Nicholas Windsor. 61-year-old Helen is mother to her four children with husband Timothy Taylor, Columbus Taylor, 31, Cassius Taylor, 28, otherwise known as the ‘bad boy royal’, Eloise Olivia Katherine Taylor, 22, and Estella Taylor, 20.

Meanwhile, Helen’s younger brother Lord Nicholas Windsor, 55, is the father of two sons, Albert Windsor, 17, and Leopold Windsor, 15. The youngest of Katharine’s children, George Windsor, the Earl of St Andrews, has three children: Edward Windsor, 36, Lady Marina Charlotte Windsor, 32, and Lady Amelia Windsor, 30. Both Lady Amelia Windsor, 30, and her sister Lady Marina Windsor, 32, were dressed in black for the vigil on Monday evening, as they paid their respects to their late grandmother.

Lord Nicholas Windsor, 55, the youngest of the Duke and Duchess of Kent’s children, was seen at the back of a minibus which was carrying her grandchildren and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. The Prince, 83, is the Duke of Kent’s brother. The Duke of Kent’s sister, Princess Alexandra, 88, also arrived by taxi and in a wheelchair. The Duke of Kent is now the oldest living member of the Royal Family following the death of his wife. Following Katharine’s death, several of her grandchildren posted tributes on social media, with Lady Amelia sharing a vintage monochrome photograph of her grandmother, along with a red love heart.

Others, such as Lady Marina, shared several glamorous photographs of the late royal in her youth, including graceful snaps captured on her wedding day in 1961. The 32-year-old, who is one of Katharine’s 10 grandchildren, wrote: ‘Rest in peace my amazing and beloved Amama [grandmother], we will miss and love you so much always and thank you to everyone who has sent such kind and touching messages, sending lots of love to all.’ Other pictures including the Duchess dressed in a yellow ensemble, cuddling a koala bear, along with a more recent snap of her dressed in a more casual white shirt and jeans combination, standing in a doorway.

Lady Marina also shared an Instagram story that said: ‘My amazing Amama, I love you always and forever and more than words could ever say. ‘Thank you for everything, all the deep love, special friendship, giggles and hugs, I will miss you so much and you will always be in my heart.’ In a statement signed ‘W & C’, the Prince and Princess of Wales said: ‘Our thoughts today are with The Duke of Kent and his family, particularly George, Helen and Nicholas. ‘The Duchess worked tirelessly to help others and supported many causes, including through her love of music. She will be a much missed member of the family’.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the Duchess of Kent brought ‘compassion, dignity and a human touch to everything she did’, as he paid tribute following her death. The Duchess attended events marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and was present for the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s 2011 wedding, and the Sussexes’ nuptials in 2018 where she wore comfortable white trainers paired with a floral Erdem maxi dress and walked arm in arm with a staff member from the royal household for support. In recent years, her health grew increasingly poor and she did not attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral or the King’s coronation.

Katharine became the oldest living member of the Royal Family when Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022. The wife of the Duke of Kent, cousin of Queen Elizabeth and grandson of King George V was universally admired for her beauty and elegance. However she was equally renowned for her compassion and dignity, seeking permission from the late Queen to convert to Catholicism and give up full-time royal duties following a series of personal tragedies to work as a music teacher in a Hull primary school.

She also founded a charity, Future Talent, to support some of the country’s brightest but under-supported musical prodigies. However she was equally renowned for her compassion and dignity, seeking permission from the late Queen to convert to Catholicism and give up full-time royal duties following a series of personal tragedies to work as a music teacher in a Hull primary school. She also founded a charity, Future Talent, to support some of the country’s brightest but under-supported musical prodigies.