LONDON (AP) — The Duchess of Kent, who famously broke royal protocol to hug a Wimbledon runner-up and stepped away from family duties to teach music in a public school, has died, Buckingham Palace announced Friday. She was 92.
Born Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley, the duchess was married to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II. She died Thursday at her home in Kensington Palace.
The royal presented trophies at Wimbledon for many years and was known for consoling runners-up, most notably when she embraced a tearful Jana Novotna after the Czech tennis player’s defeat by Steffi Graf in 1993.
The duchess, who preferred to be known as Mrs. Kent, stepped back from royal life to teach music for more than a decade at a public school in northeast England. The pianis