Duchess of Kent funeral updates: Prince and Princess of Wales to join royal family at private service in Westminster Cathedral

While the Duchess of Kent was the proud mother of three children – two sons and a daughter – she had a ‘longing for a large and mutually supportive family’.

Writing in her biography of the Duchess’s life, royal author Mary Riddell claimed that it was around 1975 that Katharine was ‘consumed’ by her desire for another child.

And due to this yearning it is likely the Duchess would have been thrilled when she discovered she was pregnant with her fourth child.

However, tragedy struck and Katharine was left with a terrible dilemma about whether she should terminate her pregnancy.

Read more in this article written by the Mail’s Ed Holt:

Buckingham Palace has said the Duchess of Kent’s funeral will begin at 2pm today.

We’ve also just been sent the first photograph of the day outside Westminster Cathedral, where the service will be held:

An online book of condolence for the Duchess of Kent opened on the monarchy’s official website following her death.

Members of the public wishing to pay their respects to the duchess’s family can do so at royal.uk.

The virtual book of condolence opened last Tuesday, a week ahead of the duchess’s funeral today.

The Duchess of Kent will be buried at a sacred ground in Windsor today alongside 33 other Royal Family members including Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

The coffin carrying the body of Katharine will be taken by hearse to the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore – and you can find out more about its history here:

The Royal Family’s Instagram account has posted a moving tribute to the Duchess of Kent ahead of her funeral, including a series of photos documenting her life:

The Duchess of Kent was the wife of the late Queen’s cousin the Duke of Kent.

Katharine, 92, 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 teaching music in a state primary school in Hull.

Buckingham Palace said she died peacefully on September 4 at her Kensington Palace home surrounded by her family.

A devout follower of the Roman Catholic faith, the Duchess of Kent 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.

Hers will be the first royal funeral at the cathedral in the Victoria area of Central London since its construction in 1903.

The King will not be the first monarch to have attended a Catholic funeral, as Queen Elizabeth II attended the Catholic state funeral of King Baudouin of the Belgians, at St Michael’s Cathedral in Brussels, in August 1993.

Charles, when Prince of Wales, went to Pope John Paul II’s funeral, representing his mother the late Queen, in 2005, while his son William attended Pope Francis’s funeral mass earlier this year.

The late Duchess of Kent was mourned by three generations of her family at a private vigil last night ahead of her funeral today.

Her coffin was carried in a royal hearse to Westminster Cathedral and was accompanied by a lone Piper from The Royal Dragoon Guards, of which she had been Deputy Colonel-in-Chief since its inception in 1992.

Read the full story from Mail reporters Elmira Tanatarova and Monique Rubins here:

The Prince and Princess of Wales will attend the Duchess of Kent’s funeral today, Kensington Palace has confirmed.

Good morning and welcome to the Daily Mail’s live coverage ahead of the Duchess of Kent’s funeral service at Westminster Cathedral today.

The requiem mass, a Catholic funeral, is the first to be held for a member of the monarchy in modern British history and will feature a Scottish bagpipe lament performed during Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022.

A piper from The Royal Dragoon Guards will play the lament – Sleep, Dearie, Sleep – while processing from the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, past the duchess’s coffin in the Nave and down the cathedral’s central aisle.

The service is set to be attended by the King and Queen and other members of the Royal Family. Stay with us throughout today for all the latest updates.