Katherine, the Duchess of Kent, passed away at the age of 92. She passed away at home in Kensington Palace Thursday night (9/4), and Buckingham Palace announced her death on Friday. I wondered aloud if the Windsors were going to use some obscure rule to avoid giving the Duchess a formal royal funeral, but it looks like they’re really pulling out all the stops. It will be the first Catholic funeral mass of a member of the British royal family in modern history, apparently. The funeral is scheduled for September 16th.
The funeral of the Duchess of Kent will be held at Westminster Cathedral on 16 September, with the King and Queen among the senior royals who will be in attendance, Buckingham Palace has announced. The duchess, Katharine, died on Thursday aged 92, prompting tributes for her kindness and support for tennis and music – including working as a primary school music teacher.
The duchess was a Catholic and there will be a Requiem Mass for her funeral, which will be the first royal Catholic funeral in the UK in modern history. It will be a private family service, after which the coffin will be taken to the royal burial ground in Frogmore in Windsor.
The duchess, who had been the oldest member of the Royal Family, died in Kensington Palace and her coffin will remain in the chapel there until the evening before the funeral, when she will be brought to Westminster Cathedral. In the Catholic tradition, there will be a service to mark the reception of the coffin into the cathedral, attended by her close family, with the duchess being survived by her husband, the Duke of Kent, and their two sons and a daughter. The coffin will remain in the Lady Chapel overnight, before the funeral the following day.
This first royal funeral at Westminster Cathedral, at 2pm on Tuesday 16 September, will be presided over by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, with the Anglican Dean of Windsor participating, before accompanying the coffin to Frogmore.
I wonder if the family will also want a wake, another Catholic funeral tradition. As you can imagine, too many people are already making the Duchess of Kent’s death all about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Harry is arriving in London soon, or he’s already in the UK at this moment. Will he “stay” for the funeral? I would say… probably not, but there’s already a lot of speculation that he could. The Mirror said that King Charles and Queen Camilla will definitely attend Katherine’s funeral, as will some of the other members of the royal family.
Harry apparently “privately sent his condolences” to the Duchess’s family, his people confirmed to several outlets. There’s no conversation about postponing the WellChild Awards, like they had to do in 2022 when QEII died. Interestingly enough, one the Duchess’s rare public outings in recent years was to Harry and Meghan’s 2018 wedding. She wore sneakers and seemed especially happy for them. She was very close to Princess Diana. Speaking of, Prince William and Kate paid tribute to her with a statement published on Twitter.
A message from The Prince and Princess of Wales pic.twitter.com/0VPYJr8j4Z
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) September 5, 2025
Photos courtesy of Photoshot/Avalon, Avalon Red and Cover Images.
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·