FAREWELL TO A ROYAL TRAILBLAZER

The duchess gave up royal life to teach music at school

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She wore a tiara that belonged to Queen Mary on her wedding day and was the eight-times great granddaughter of Oliver Cromwell.

Years later Katharine, Duchess of Kent, gave up royal life to be known simply as Mrs Kent by her pupils at a local primary school in Hull. And, last week, the royal family was in mourning as the wife of Edward, Duke of Kent, passed away at 92.

DOWN-TO-EARTH DUCHESS

The original royal trailblazer, Kate – as she was known to family and friends – grew up in North Yorkshire and had no formal education, except for piano lessons. At 16 she dreamed of being a musician but failed to get into the Royal Academy of Music, which she called "one of my biggest disappointments" and instead headed off to a finishing school in Oxford.

In 1957 she met 21-year-old Edward, Duke of Kent and the Queen's first cousin, at a ball.

He was an army officer stationed nearby, and Edward and Kate "quickly became friends". It wasn't long before Kate met his mother, Princess Marina, and Edward developed a close relationship with her father, William, after losing his own – Prince George – in a plane crash when he was six.