The Duke, 90, reportedly visited London’s Wigmore Hall this week to hear a performance by pianist Dame Imogen Cooper, before presenting her with a special medal

he Duke of Kent is said to be “seeking solace” in music following the death of his wife last year. The royal, 90, who is the first cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II, reportedly attended a concert in Wigmore Hall in London last Sunday.

There, he heard a performance by pianist Dame Imogen Cooper, 76, according to the Daily Mail‘s Richard Eden.

He presented the Dame with the Wigmore Hall medal, after she played works by Schubert. The visit will be seen as a sweet tribute to his wife Katharine, Duchess of Kent, who passed away peacefully on September 4 aged 92, surrounded by her family.

Duchess of Kent’s love of music

The Duke and Duchess of Kent were known to share a lifelong love of music – something that brought them together throughout their marriage.

The Duchess famously withdrew from royal duties in 1996 to pursue a career in music at Wansbeck Primary School in East Hull, where she told her pupils to call her “Mrs Kent”.

Speaking to The Telegraph in 2022, she said: “Only the head knew who I was. The parents didn’t know and the pupils didn’t know. No one ever noticed. There was no publicity about it at all – it just seemed to work.”

She described the job as “very very rewarding” and enjoyed witnessing the positive impact music could have on children from all backgrounds.

Speaking on The Alan Titchmarsh Show, she reflected: “When I was teaching the first thing I began to notice was the power of music as a stimulant to these children to give them confidence and self-belief. I began to see that happen all the time.

“Some of the children I taught haven’t necessarily become musicians, but the confidence it has given them, some have joined the Army, some to university, which they might not have done otherwise. I have always loved talent, I love that tickle up the neck when you see talent and I began to realise I was teaching some very, very gifted children.”

Katharine was musically talented herself, playing the piano, violin and the organ as a child, before studying music at Oxford. She even once delighted royal fans by revealing she was a fan of rap music, in particular enjoying Eminem.

The Duke and Duchess pictured in 1991

In 2004, she founded the music charity Future Talent, which aims to give every child an equal opportunity to excel in music. In what made for a thoughtful gesture, young performers from the charity were even included in the Princess of Wales’s Together At Christmas carol concert this year to welcome guests to Westminster Abbey.

Inside the Duke and Duchess and Kent’s 64-year marriage

The then-Katharine Worsley married Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, at York Minster in 1961, after first meeting in 1956.  The ceremony was attended by a glittering guest list of more than 2,000 people, including Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip, King Charles, Princess Anne and Princess Margaret.

The couple were married for 64 years and welcomed three children: George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, Lady Helen Taylor and Lord Nicholas Windsor.