Kensington Palace issues Kate Middleton statement ahead of Duchess of Kent funeral

The Prince and Princess of Wales will attend the funeral of the Duchess of Kent later today, it has been confirmed.

Katharine, the wife of the late Queen’s cousin the Duke of Kent, died peacefully at home, surrounded by her family, on the evening of September 4 aged 92.

Her Catholic funeral - a requiem mass - is the first to be held for a member of the monarchy in modern British history and will take place at Westminster Cathedral this afternoon. The King and Queen will be in attendance and now Kensington Palace has revealed that Willliam and Kate will also be among the mourners.

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When the Duchess died earlier this month, William and Kate paid tribute to her in a heartfelt message saying: " Our thoughts today are with The Duke of Kentand 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. W & C."

Last night the Duchess's coffin was brought from her Kensington Palace home to Westminster Cathedral where it has been at rest overnight in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Immediate family, including her widower, the Duke of Kent and their daughter Lady Helen Taylor, had been welcomed by the Dean of Westminster Cathedral Father Slawomir Witon and watched from the cathedral steps as soldiers from the Royal Dragoon Guards slowly carried the coffin.

Today's funeral service will feature a Scottish bagpipe lament that was also performed at the late Queen's funeral almost three years ago.

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 late Queen’s funeral service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, ended with a piper playing the same tune.

Her coffin is a wicker construction made from English willow and is draped with the royal standard which has a white ermine border signifying she was the spouse of a prince.

A large wreath of British garden flowers, chosen by the duchess’s family, has been placed on top of the coffin and includes white roses, the symbol of Yorkshire, the county where she was born, and sprigs of yew from the gardens of Hovingham Hall, the duchess’s childhood home, representing eternal life.

Soldiers from The Royal Dragoon Guards have played an important role during her Catholic funeral, which traditionally runs over two days, with a piper leading the funeral cortege and other soldiers carrying the coffin into the cathedral when it arrived yesterday.

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 Duchess, born Katharine Worsley, became best known for presenting the trophies at Wimbledon and memorably comforted a sobbing Jana Novotna after she lost the 1993 ladies' singles final to Steffi Graf.

In 2002, she stepped back from royal duties, dropping her HRH style and spending her time as a low-key music teacher at a state school in Hull, where she was simply known as Mrs Kent.

She was born in Yorkshire in 1933 and grew up in Hovingham Hall near York. In 1956, she first crossed paths with the Duke of Kent, who at the time was serving with the Royal Scots Greys and stationed at Catterick Garrison in Yorkshire, and romance eventually blossomed.

Five years after their first meeting, the couple announced their engagement, and they married in the wedding of the year in June 1961 at York Minster. The venue was a break in tradition from Westminster Abbey, but Katharine was keen to marry there, describing herself as a "Yorkshire lass". The glamorous Kents threw themselves into public life, representing the late Queen at both home and abroad and had three children - George, Earl of St Andrews, Lady Helen Taylor and Lord Nicholas Windsor.

In the 1970s, the Duchess suffered two devastating losses of a child. In 1975, she terminated a pregnancy after contracting rubella, which can harm an unborn baby. Two years later, she gave birth to a stillborn son called Patrick.

In 2002, Katharine stepped back completely from royal duties, telling the late Queen she would no longer use her HRH title - but rather than retire, the Duchess took up her low-key job. She became a music teacher at Wansbeck Primary School in Hull.

Her public appearances became few and far between in recent years, although she attended Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding in 2018.

She was last seen in public last October at an event to mark the 89th birthday of her husband, when he was serenaded with Happy Birthday on the bagpipes outside the entrance of their Kensington Palace home, Wren House.