The Duchess of Kent’s coffin has arrived at Westminster Cathedral late this afternoon ahead of the funeral, which will take place tomorrow. Katharine’s coffin travelled three miles from Kensington Palace to the Cathedral shortly after 5pm for a series of private funeral rites attended by the duchess’s immediate family ahead of the requiem mass tomorrow.
Despite showers and blustery winds earlier in the day, the sun shone brightly as the Union flag flew at half mast. Her coffin was covered in the royal standard for other members of the Royal Family, differentiated by its white border.
For the first few minutes of the journey, a lone piper from The Royal Dragoon Guards, a regiment the duchess supported as deputy Colonel-in-Chief since its inception in 1992, walked ahead of the coffin and led the way as she left Kensington Palace for the final time.
The musician played sombre music as it travelled the short distance from the royal residence to the main road, before the Royal Hearse made its way to Westminster Cathedral via police convoy.
The coffin will now rest overnight in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Close friends and family started arriving at the cathedral some 20 minutes before the arrival of the coffin.
A minibus transported over a dozen guests dressed in black, while Prince and Princess Michael of Kent arrived first in a separate vehicle. Princess Alexandra arrived in an accessible black cab in a wheelchair.
As the bearer party carefully retrieved the coffin from the hearse, the Duchess’s immediate family formed a line at the top of the cathedral’s steps for the rite of reception.
The Catholic funeral tradition provides a chance for the Duchess’s body to be formally welcomed into the church where the funeral service will take place.
The Duke of Kent, holding a walking stick, greeted Father Slawomir Witoń, the dean of Westminster Cathedral, before watching his wife’s coffin being carried inside.
The requiem mass, a Catholic funeral, will be held tomorrow, falling 12 days after Katharine died peacefully at home, surrounded by her family.
It will be attended by the King, Queen and other senior royals, marking the first Catholic funeral service held for a member of the Royal Family in modern British history.
The funeral rites tonight included a Vigil for the Deceased, Rite of Reception, which usually involves the coffin being sprinkled with holy water, and evening prayers known as Vespers will be taken by Bishop James Curry, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and Titular Bishop of Ramsbury.
The sombre event is usually marked by prayers, music, hymns and tributes.
Katharine, wife of the late Queen’s cousin, the Duke of Kent, converted to Catholicism in 1994.
A devout follower of the Roman Catholic faith, the duchess became the first member of the royal family to convert to Catholicism in more than 300 years. Her husband did not convert, so he remained in the line of succession.
It was her wish to have her funeral at Westminster Cathedral, marking the first royal funeral at the cathedral, in Victoria, central London, since its construction in 1903.