Monday, September 15, 2025

The Duchess of Kent is brought to Westminster Cathedral

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 The Duchess of Kent's coffin was brought from the Kensington Palace chapel to Westminster Cathedral today.  Her coffin was transported by a hearse, which was led by a solitary piper from the Royal Dragoon Guards.

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 The late Duchess, who died at 92 on September 4th, was the Royal Dragoon Guards' Colonel-in-Chief since 1992 when the regiment was founded.

Other Royal Dragoons Guards served as pallbearers and carried the coffin into the Cathedral's Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where it will remain overnight.

The members of the family who were outside Westminster Cathedral for the coffin's arrival were The Duke of Kent, The Earl and Countess of St. Andrews, Lord Downpatrick, Lady Marina-Charlotte Windsor, Lady Amelia Windsor, Lord Nicholas Windsor with his three sons, Albert, Leopold, and Louis Windsor. Lady Helen and Tim Taylor with Columbus, Cassius, Eloise, and Estella Taylor.   

Lady Nicholas did not accompany her husband.

This evening, the Duchess's immediate family attended the Vigil for the Deceased and Rite of Reception, and the Vespers for the Dead.

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Lord and Lady Frederick Windsor, Lady Gabriella Kingston. Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy, James Ogilvy, and Marina Mowatt joined the Duke of Kent and his children, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, and grandchildren at the private vigil.



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The funeral will take place tomorrow at Westminster Cathedral.  The Duchess of Kent converted to Roman Catholicism in 1994.  She was the first member of the Royal Family to convert since 1928, when Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh, a British princess by birth,  joined the Roman Catholic Church.  Princess Beatrice was the youngest daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.  In 1909, she married Infante Don Alfonso of Orléans-Borbon.

The King and Queen will be among the guests at the Duchess's funeral, which will be followed by internment in the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore.








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