How is Britain mourning the death of the Duchess of Kent?
Posted by OkTechnologyb@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 208 comments
Posted by OkTechnologyb@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 208 comments
stupidlyboredtho@reddit
this is how i found out there is a duchess of kent and she’s dead.
Strong_Muffin3941@reddit
It's like how we find out people who were in Carry On Films weren't dead. When they die.
Hinx_art@reddit
most brits don't pay attention to the royals outside the current sitting family, unless they do something wrong, example these are who I'd recognise. royals are more for tourists and special occasions.
Charles(throne) + Camilla(wife)
William(next in line) + Kate middleton(wife)
Harry(complained) + Meghan(wife)
Andrew(nonce)
Strong_Muffin3941@reddit
Edward - thrown out of marines for allegedly being gay or so useless he may as well be* + Sophie (Beard)
* not my words. A source close to the Prince.
jonewer@reddit
And George (looks a bit like the kid from The Omen)
temporary_bob@reddit
As a Canadian (technically a subject) that's the exact list that I recognize! And of course the late Queen, and Queen Mum (RIP).
apainintheokole@reddit
Fergie - Andrew's ex.
miss-mercatale@reddit
She was lovely. Very normal and kind. Always remember her for comforting Jana Novotna when she lost the Wimbledon Ladies Final.
She retreated from Royal life (suffered from depression after a stillborn birth) and taught music in state schools in London and Hull.
essexboy1976@reddit
Yeah she was undercover as a music teacher, "Mrs Kent", apparently quite alot of people at the schools she taught at had no idea who she actually was.
pinkylovesme@reddit
My music teacher was a Mr Smith, is there a Duke of Smith?
smoulderstoat@reddit
Wait, my music teacher was a Mr Lord. It all falls into place.
benroon@reddit
Mine was a Mr Hazard…. I wonder…
essexboy1976@reddit
Did he drive a Dodge Charger?
benroon@reddit
Yesssss - same school?
JohnLennonsNotDead@reddit
“Right so this is C minor, keep my wife’s name out your your fuckin’ mouth”
essexboy1976@reddit
Your music teacher was The Doctor ????????, 😮
Oohoureli@reddit
I doubt that anyone outside her close family are really "mourning" her, but anyone who knew who she was and what she did will be sad.
She was a very "human", unfussy and unstuffy member of the Royal Family, who devoted the latter part of her life to teaching music incognito, and helping out with children's and homeless charities. She also took calls anonymously for the Samaritans, and worked at Lourdes following her conversion to Catholicism. Not performative Royal photo opportunities (she dropped her HRH title), but actual hard work on the coalface, on the quiet.
There's a story about when she promised a dying child one last visit, but was about to leave for an official visit to Australia. Against the advice of her husband, who was convinced she would miss their flight, she went to see him at Great Ormond Street at 0630 with a present of a koala bear, as she wasn't sure she would have time to do any shopping on her tour. She made it to the airport just in time, to be told the child had died shortly after she left.
She was President of the All-England Tennis Club and presented the trophies at Wimbledon for many years, including famously giving a tearful Jana Novotna a hug after she lost to Steffi Graff. She requested permission for the 12-year-old son of a murdered police officer to accompany her, only to be told by a stuffy official that only Royal children were allowed in the Royal Box. As a result, she boycotted the Royal Box for the rest of her tenure and sat elsewhere.
You'll have the usual ignorant comments about the Royal Family being irrelevant, parasites, rich bitches and the like. But she was a deeply caring person who shrugged off the royal shackles to do some real good in this world, never hiding her own emotion and vulnerability in the process.
LeTrolleur@reddit
I didn't know we had a duchess of Kent.
OkTechnologyb@reddit (OP)
Well!
scarygirth@reddit
Never even heard of her until today. Having had a little read though she sounds like she was alright.
AttentionOtherwise80@reddit
She was. A big tennis fan and presented the prizes at Wimbledon every year as president. Famously hugged Jana Novotna after she burst into tears.
Jimmy-Evs@reddit
Why is the bar so low for posh people... Consoled a person who was emotional. What a saint.
thebestthingsinlife6@reddit
Honestly, just not being a colossal prick puts someone in the top 20% of population at the moment, posh or not.
Jimmy-Evs@reddit
You're not wrong
thefooleryoftom@reddit
Because their upbringing and standards for intimacy are completely different to “normal” people. Listening to the You’re Wrong About podcasts on Princess Diana taught me a lot about this.
Spare-Way7104@reddit
Sad that Brits don’t really give a toss about her because she was one of the most normal, decent royals there ever was.
Strong_Muffin3941@reddit
I just had a wank, which I'm retrospectively dedicating to the old nazi.
BoomalakkaWee@reddit
Are you thinking instead of Princess Heinkel of Kent?
MelodyPlath@reddit
No idea who she is 😂
MelodyPlath@reddit
Oops sorry. “Was”
Linusami@reddit
Top tier welfare recipient has cashed her last cheque.
Cakeo@reddit
She was a music teacher and seemed like a fairly normal person, as far as you can be being in the royal family. You don't need to mourn a person's death but insulting them is poor form when it doesn't seem like she has done anything controversial.
Linusami@reddit
"You don't need to mourn a person's death but insulting them is poor form..."
There is no insult.
Cakeo@reddit
Do you think your comment isn't insulting? I wouldn't be pleased if that's what people said about someone I knew that passed away.
Linusami@reddit
You initially accused me of insulting the person. Yet no isult is there. So now you're asking me if I think my comment isn't insulting. Same answer.
Cakeo@reddit
OK I can't tell if you struggle with social situations, if you can't see why it's an insult, or you are being disingenuous. Enjoy your weekend bud
Linusami@reddit
And I can't tell why YOU struggle with reading comprehension. Not your bud either, but I'll enjoy my weekend, thank you.
Cakeo@reddit
No worries mate
NoAlgae465@reddit
I'm sorry for her families loss, but I literally didn't know she existed.
dinobug77@reddit
As Keanu once said that when you die those that love you will miss you.
Strong_Muffin3941@reddit
I think a very great number of people will miss Keanu when he goes.
dinobug77@reddit
More so than the Duchess of Kent that’s for sure. He is a prince among men
Dangerous_Air_7031@reddit
Very wise words.
YchYFi@reddit
Same here. I haven't a fig to give either.
Ashamed_Fig4922@reddit
Here I am
YchYFi@reddit
Aren't you ashamed?
Ashamed_Fig4922@reddit
Most definitely ashamed
Scrombolo@reddit
There's a duchess of Kent??
Prestigious_Leg7821@reddit
Not anymore
OkTechnologyb@reddit (OP)
Underrated comment.
ooh_bit_of_bush@reddit
have you not seen all the flags at half mast on lampposts? This is a national tragedy.
PetersMapProject@reddit
/r/angryupvote
thefooleryoftom@reddit
Amazing.
snapper1971@reddit
Genuinely brilliant.
LuKat92@reddit
Dammit, take my begrudging upvote
Hey_Scoobs@reddit
Bravo.
goin-up-the-country@reddit
The same way she would mourn mine.
tykeoldboy@reddit
I liked the Duchess of Kent. She always came across as a friendly caring person, not one for needing attention and enjoyed performing her duties when representing the royals in an official capacity. Although I won't do anything to mark her passing I am thankful for her public work
StevieSteveSGR@reddit
Don’t know who she is and didn’t know she was dead until right now.
BFastBtch@reddit
Who?
TheRemanence@reddit
Just looked her up. She's the king's mother's cousin's wife. As in, she married a cousin of QE2
MetalRubiXCubee@reddit
I didn't know a ship could have cousins
LiamsBiggestFan@reddit
Brilliant love it
JohnLennonsNotDead@reddit
HOOOOOOOOONK
TheRemanence@reddit
Lol. I made her sound like a tugboat
cowplum@reddit
Maybe in her younger days
welshwonka@reddit
that's just too funny not to upvote
thebestthingsinlife6@reddit
Oh, THAT Duchess of Kent.
TheRemanence@reddit
🤣
krakenbeef@reddit
MARCO BIZOT!
gilestowler@reddit
RONNIE... oh hang on this is something else
SilverLordLaz@reddit
Erm not at all, most of us have no idea who she was. I heard she gave awards at Wimbledon???
essexboy1976@reddit
She presented the ladies singles trophy for many years. Also she worked "undercover" as it were in several primary schools for many years as a music teacher, where she was known as Mrs Kent. Apparently lots of people connected with those schools genuinely had no idea who she actually was.
SilverLordLaz@reddit
Thats lovely - but today is the first time I heard of her
essexboy1976@reddit
I guess it depends if you're a tennis fan or not. Probably not, given you hadn't heard of her.
SilverLordLaz@reddit
Yeah - I don't get it to be honest. I was surprised as an adult when I heard it was only 2 weeks, as a kid I thought it was on ALL summer! :-)
essexboy1976@reddit
It probably seemed like that as a kid. But if you're a hardcore tennis fan there's always a tournament to watch.
turingthecat@reddit
Honestly, didn’t know she died (which one is she again?)
After-Dentist-2480@reddit
By collectively saying “Who?”
thedrape@reddit
It was the thread that I learned that the Duchess of Kent died.
RIP whoever you were
steveh2021@reddit
Oh I can barely function. I'm in bits!!
Aid_Le_Sultan@reddit
I’m heartbroken. Oh, how I recall her giving me my degree and shaking my hand……with a glove on. I mean you wouldn’t want to catch something from the peasants.
Razhbad@reddit
Generally, its those closest to the throne thats concentrated on. It'll generally only be the older generations who even know about the duchess of Kent existing and most of those probably won't know she died.
wordswithanemones@reddit
Why would we mourn someone closer to the throne? We dont know them and they don't know us. That's just weird and creepy
Razhbad@reddit
And yet recent events have shown this to be the case
wordswithanemones@reddit
That other people are weird and creepy, yeh it's weird
Razhbad@reddit
It might be, but its not particularly uncommon in the UK. It would be uncommon with the Duchess of Kent.
wordswithanemones@reddit
Ok?
NotSayingAliensBut@reddit
Yep kind of a mass hysteria. Even ignoring the politics, it's a very interesting psychology, something which affects the collective unconscious, if Jung was right. I remember hearing the news of Diana's death, and feeling it out there in the world, like a pull to share in someone else's emotion.
thebestthingsinlife6@reddit
Very privately. If you looked at me you might not even know I'm mourning.
panadwithonesugar@reddit
I wasn't gonna drink today, but fucking hell I just miss her so much
Cyan-180@reddit
A bottle of Pimms?
Weaksoul@reddit
G&D
Lou-de-Lou-de-Lou@reddit
🤭
majomista@reddit
Who?
Affectionate-Boot-12@reddit
Exactly.
cactusnan@reddit
Who cares?
Crivens999@reddit
Who now? Oh yes people mentioned her a bit in the 80s when Diana was all the rage
jmhobs@reddit
Most yank post I’ve seen on Reddit today 🤣
Dangerous_Air_7031@reddit
But then how do they know? 🤣
Cakeo@reddit
I thought it was a joke until I checked their history and seen they were from the US.
RhinoRhys@reddit
About the same as when Diana and the Queen died. Couldn't give a fuck.
Peppl@reddit
didn't know she'd died
Particular_Meaning_5@reddit
Who? Also, we're too busy laughing at the s**tshow that is USA right now to have noticed 'random rich person' has died.
SirPooleyX@reddit
Same way we're mourning Edna Bloggs from Newcastle who died last year.
ShameSuperb7099@reddit
Lovely lady but we’re too busy laughing at the government
Clearmudd@reddit
Couldn't care less, wish the rest of them would follow suit and all the so called aristocracy...
AlexSumnerAuthor@reddit
I did not know until just now that she had passed away.
I only know two things about her: she converted to Catholicism, which obliged her husband to step out of the line of succession; and that she was Chancellor of Leeds University when I was a student there. Did she come to my graduation? Hell, no!
I suppose the Freemasons will probably send a sympathy card to her husband, as he is their Most Worshipful Grandmaster, but apart from that, she hasn't been a public figure for a long time now.
ImpatientHoneyBadger@reddit
I imagine some are confusing her with Princess Michael of Kent.
EatingCoooolo@reddit
Let me google this person
EatingCoooolo@reddit
Who?
julia-peculiar@reddit
Only vaguely aware of her in life. Didn't know of her death until reading your post. Am entirely unaffected by / uninterested in it. Her existence meant about as much to me as I imagine mine did to her. Her death is therefore not something I mourn.
walrus312@reddit
99% have no idea who it is. Americans are much more interested in them than us. People tend to stay in their class, and in their lane.
Thinking10Thinking@reddit
Who is she?
CharmingMeringue@reddit
Not really sure who she is/was
Broad-Raspberry1805@reddit
LOL…we aren’t!
miemcc@reddit
It's just an announcement. Means sod all to anyone outside their immediate family. Do doubt, the senior royals will cancel some events to attend the funeral, but that's it.
decentlyfair@reddit
We’re not
PetersMapProject@reddit
In the way that I usually mourn someone I didn't know existed
theavocadolady@reddit
That's unbelievably funny
fgspq@reddit
Mourning who?
alltheparentssuck@reddit
Is she the one dubbed Princess Pushy?
Goatmanification@reddit
Honestly I can't even tell if this is made up or not, you could tell me the Duke of Hampshire died and I'd believe you. No idea if there is one, no idea who it is. That should give you an indication of how little these people occupy our thoughts.
Noctale@reddit
Interestingly, there is no Duke or Earl of Hampshire, as the area has been redefined so much over the years. The closest would be the Marquess of Winchester, Christopher Paulet. Not related to royalty, other than sharing a table from time to time.
Goatmanification@reddit
I did Google it as soon as I posted, out of curiosity more than anything!
rabidrob42@reddit
This is the first I'm hearing about it. Oh well.
DanielFrancis13@reddit
Mainly by saying "who?"
WeRW2020@reddit
OP, edit your post by explaining who the fuck you're on about
SaturdayPlatterday@reddit
She was just a person, I’ll mourn her the same way as I’ll mourn anyone else I didn’t know.
JohnLennonsNotDead@reddit
I’ve just had a wank
Employ-Personal@reddit
Ah, a question designed to elicit ‘bitey’ responses to aristocracy - clearly we common folks don’t care that she’s died and will not notice - but this person was generally thought to be good and kind and did a lot for ‘charidee’ so, people will miss her I’m sure, just not most of us.
KonkeyDongPrime@reddit
Who?
Prestigious-Gold6759@reddit
Personally I cried a bit as she was a truly lovely lady.
Cakeo@reddit
She seemed like a good person but it's not like she died an untimely death, she was 92.
Prestigious-Gold6759@reddit
Yes agree, I was still sad though.
Colossal_Squids@reddit
Reluctantly, if at all.
Ancient-Cow-1038@reddit
She was one of the good ones.
That said, I won’t be wearing a black arm band or anything…
asymmetricears@reddit
Personally I'm not. And that's from a position of indifference. Rather than me swaying towards republicanism, or anything else.
The duchess wasn't in the line of succession as she married into the family, but her widow, the Duke of Kent is 42nd. She wasn't that important.
Georgie_Pillson1@reddit
Are you an American journalist trying to reach their word count?
benroon@reddit
No one outside her immediate family will give a rats arse
123Catskill@reddit
The shock and grief is overwhelming. The country is at a standstill. Many of us are queuing up to throw ourselves off the White Cliffs of Dover.
davus_maximus@reddit
And we're tutting the queue jumpers! Those cretins should be thrown off a cliff.
quantocked@reddit
I'm sure she was important to her family but I've no strong feelings about her, I'm sure she lived a lovely life and she was very old.
OrganicPoet1823@reddit
I don’t think they will was very much a hanger on and I doubt many people will even know who she is
Any-Memory2630@reddit
Goodbye England's Rose
DustInTheMachine@reddit
Personally I thought "oh, isn't she already dead" then I tried to work out how I knew her name and pretty much drew a blank.
My mum, however, will tell me she's saddened about it and she would go on to accurately explain who the Duchess was, how she was related to QE2 and who her children/grandchildren are. I'd then be told where she lived, who she married and in what year.
The Royal Family is my mum's specialist subject (along with every movie ever made). But the neurodiversity in our family is absolutely not inherited from her...
Rhesus-Positive@reddit
Refreshing the BBC news website every few minutes in the hope of a bank holiday being announced for the Duchie Funes
doepfersdungeon@reddit
Depends whole you are I guess. I have no idea who she was. My mum just said referred to her as "Her duchess, and a truly amazing woman". We live in different worlds.
Fearless-Dust-2073@reddit
I'll mourn the same way I have for every other royal, by not noticing
Chickenshit_outfit@reddit
Englishman living in the US and when the queen died I had people coming up to me saying sorry for loss. Most couldnt understand why I didnt give a shit. Not a loyalist
Agitated_Ad_361@reddit
Didn’t know she’d been born let alone died.
gummibear853@reddit
Partridge-shrug.gif
Havana-plant@reddit
Who the fuck is that
artrald-7083@reddit
Not, as we probably all thought, Princess Michael. This was the lady they wheeled out to do the prize giving at Wimbledon, who presumably lived in the cupboard next to the trophies the rest of the year.
Boleyn01@reddit
I imagine mostly by people expressing surprise that the Duchess of Kent was still alive/asking “and who is that now?”
Extension_Sun_377@reddit
We're not.
ImpressiveGift9921@reddit
I don't even know who that is or that they died.
snapper1971@reddit
We're not. Plain and simple. A minor, minor, minor "Royal" most people have never heard of before her passing. It's sad for her family that she has passed away, but to the wider public, she's unknown.
CptCave1@reddit
Never heard of them
badabing_76@reddit
By scrolling through Reddit.
Shoddy-Reply-7217@reddit
Who?
Whodeytim@reddit
Who
Particular-Ad-3909@reddit
We're not. Not even a top story on the news. She was a minor royal, mainly known for handing out the winners trophies at Wimbledon every year. That being said, she was apparently a nice person, and had worked voluntarily in an inner city primary (grade) school as a music teacher for quite some time, without any song and dance or public fanfare and was just Mrs Kent.
panadwithonesugar@reddit
We still haven't got over the loss of Purple Aki, and now this..... it's a knife through the heart
Oghamstoner@reddit
Isn’t that a pub?
Someth1ngOther@reddit
Sorry, idk who that is.
CurvePuzzleheaded361@reddit
I didnt know she even existed
Fair_Project2332@reddit
I had dinner with her once, many years ago, in a professional role. Very pleasant, very private individual, who would not expect anyone other than her immediate family to mourn her.
Bride-of-wire@reddit
With the stiffest of stiff upper lips. To look at us you might not even know - that’s the great British reserve.
LuKat92@reddit
[News notification comes through]
Me: the Duchess of Kent’s died
Mum: really? Mind she must have been getting on a bit.
Me: she was 92.
[a few more moments of discussion before the day carries on as normal]
TheRemanence@reddit
The king's mother's cousin's wife? Yes, we're all incredibly upset despite not knowing who she is.
jeanclaudebrowncloud@reddit
I'm mourning her in the way I'm mourning everyone else I'm unaware of who have died today.
drquakers@reddit
Hah, couldn't give a rats posterior.
Lethbridge-Totty@reddit
As a Roman Catholic, she was legally dead to us anyway /s
Both-Trash7021@reddit
I’m a republican but she did seem a decent woman who’d had her fair share of knocks over the years. But she managed to carve out a quiet life of her own, one she enjoyed outside all the royal stuff.
Not mourning, just sad that a good person has gone.
FjortoftsAirplane@reddit
It's like if you flip through a newspaper and linger for a second on the obituary page. You sort of go "'that's sad" and then move on with your daily life. About there. It's not not sad, but also it ranks several steps below if I see an Oxfam advert on my scale of "sad things I see in my daily life".
There's a pigeon nesting in my garden and I think a magpie raided its nest. That makes me a lot sadder than the Duchess of Kent passing. But it's still sad to hear anyone's passed.
Jonlang_@reddit
The what of who?
faipop@reddit
They're not?
cheddawood@reddit
Alexa, play another one bites the dust
sbs1138@reddit
I work for the University of Leeds. The Duchess of Kent was Chancellor from 1966-1999 and was, from what I’ve heard, a very active figurehead for the University. The Worsley Building on campus is named after her family.
We had an all staff email sent out this afternoon. RIP.
imtheorangeycenter@reddit
We collectively remember Princess Monaco of Kent better.
Cheers Gary Delaney!
Sharp_Yard9850@reddit
With great indifference.
saltyholty@reddit
I'm not a royalist, but even royalists only really care about the close family of the monarch. You'd have to look a long while to find a member of the public who cares about the Duchess of Kent.
imtheorangeycenter@reddit
By scrolling halfway down the Guardian website where it's mentioned, but it's such a small byline you have to squint.
GoGoRoloPolo@reddit
Saw a BBC news notification, tapped on it, learnt of her existence and her work, closed it, didn't think of it again until now.
Pizzagoessplat@reddit
Haven't heard of her until today
shadowmoses4726@reddit
i didn’t even know who she was😬
Drewski811@reddit
It isn't
DivePotato@reddit
Oh, anyway
wordswithanemones@reddit
This isn't a member of my family so why would I be mourning?
SnooDonuts6494@reddit
She's died? Oh. OK.
Does that answer your question?
CuriousThylacine@reddit
Flags at half lamppost
Statically@reddit
Who?
BowiesFixedPupil@reddit
I was just surprised it wasn't the other one with a man's name to be honest. Didn't realise Kent had so many royals.
peribon@reddit
I waa too busy not knowing she existed...
FullBodiedRed2000@reddit
By painting little English flags on pedestrian crossings and popping flags on roundabouts.
fluentindothraki@reddit
A collective of ungiven Fucks
Defiant-Conflict2556@reddit
Oh so that’s why the church bells in my town have been ringing for so long…
Pineapples-1971@reddit
Other than her family I doubt anyone else is that arsed.
BaconLara@reddit
Oohhh, is that why there’s flags at half mast everywhere lately?
Antique-Link3477@reddit
Who?
chartupdate@reddit
A very minor royal and by marriage at that.
We are not.
s_dalbiac@reddit
We're not
mergraote@reddit
Mostly by asking, "Which one was she, again?"
SheepherderSelect622@reddit
Who?
Hulla_Sarsaparilla@reddit
I just read the BBC news article, that’s me done
flippertyflip@reddit
We aren't.
qualityvote2@reddit
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