How Duchess of Kent Broke Barriers by Speaking About Stillborn Son

The late Katharine, the Duchess of Kent drew attention to the subject of stillbirth by bravely speaking about her own experience. 

Katharine was married to Queen Elizabeth‘s cousin Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, and Buckingham Palace announced on Sept. 5 that she died the day prior at age 92.

The Duke and Duchess of Kent married in a royal wedding in 1961 and went on to welcome George, Earl of St. Andrews in 1962, Lady Helen Taylor in 1964 and Lord Nicholas Windsor in 1970. 

According to The Telegraph, in 1975, Katharine had a medical termination after contracting German measles (rubella) when pregnant. 

In 1977, she gave birth to a stillborn son named Patrick at full term and later spent seven weeks at King Edward VII Hospital for “nervous strain.”

Twenty years later, she openly spoke about the “devastating” experience and its lasting effect on her.

“It had the most devastating effect on me,” the Duchess of Kent told The Telegraph in 1997. “I had no idea how devastating such a thing could be to any woman. It has made me extremely understanding of others who suffer a stillbirth.”

Katharine added that resuming royal work soon after may have been a mistake.

“I don’t think I gave myself time to get over it,” she said. “Probably I didn’t grieve properly.”

Commenting on the time she spent hospitalized for “treatment and supervised rest,” Katharine broke the royal family’s traditional tight-lipped precedent around medical matters by acknowledging how essential that care was for her well-being.  

“I am not ashamed of that patch at all,” she said. “It was not a good period, but once I’d come out and returned to a sense of reality, I quickly realized that, awful as it was, it does happen to a lot of people.”

The Duchess of Kent said then that she still had “up and down days” and was “terribly” sensitive to the subjects of stillbirth and baby loss.

The Duchess of Kent became a working royal when she married Prince Edward in 1961, but she withdrew from royal duties in 1996, quietly retreating to teach music in a primary school where she was known as “Mrs. Kent.”

She stepped aside from royal duties altogether in 2002 in order to focus fully on her private work and charitable endeavors, with a focus on increasing the accessibility of music education through her charity, Future Talent.

Her last public appearance was in October 2024, when she appeared on her husband’s birthday.

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The palace announced on Sept. 5 that she had died “peacefully” at Kensington Palace, surrounded by her family.