Sept. 7, 2025

Kate’s Bald Joke, Charles on Ageing, and Farewell to the Duchess of Kent

Kate’s Bald Joke, Charles on Ageing, and Farewell to the Duchess of Kent

Princess Catherine once playfully teased Prince William about his hair loss, a lighthearted story revealed in Grant Harrold’s new memoir. King Charles admitted “bits don’t work so well” after seventy during a hospital visit, and Queen Camilla’s teenage act of bravery with a shoe comes to light in a new book. Plus, reflections on whether royal tell-alls really reveal anything—and Buckingham Palace announces the death of the Duchess of Kent at age 92.

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A Caloroga Shark Media. Hi, and welcome to Pallace Intrigue Game,

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your host Mark Francis. Princess Catherine has no problem having

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a gentle laugh at her husband's expense, especially when it

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comes to Prince William's hair, or rather the lack thereof

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Former Royal butler Grant Harold recounts the moment in his

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upcoming memoir The Royal Butler, My Remarkable Life of Royal Service.

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Harold was chatting with the royal couple about aging when

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he quipped, surely the worst thing about aging was losing

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your hair and going bold. At that, he says, Kate

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started sniggering, and William gave me a look and said

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thanks for that. Harold added that it hadn't dawned on

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him at the time that the Prince was already beginning

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to lose his hair. Apparently, jokes about William's bold patch

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with something of an inside gag, But the Prince of

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Wales was always a good sport about it. Harold noted

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he always took any comments intended or otherwise in good humor.

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A short time later, William got his own back when

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Harold turned up with an unfortunate fake tan William said,

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what have you done? Is it gone everywhere? I said

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it was everywhere. He said, can I see it? I

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had to take my shoes and socks off to show

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him my toes, which were orange. The Royal Butler My

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Remarkable Life of Royal Services out on September twenty third,

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The couple finally got some work in after seven weeks

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of vacations, with Kate's lighter, sun kissed locks brightening the morning,

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despite the sudden downpour that forced the Prince and Princess

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of Wales to cut short outdoor activities with school children

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at the Natural History Museum. The couple had arrived in

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South Kensington to bright sunshine, only for the weather to

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turn within minutes, sending everyone scrambling for cover. One imagines

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they were heartbroken about being forced to work less hard.

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The pair had just joined the youngsters from Kender Primary

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Scoo for some pond dipping when the rain began. Kate,

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who has been patron of the museum since twenty thirteen,

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told Dr Sandy Nap, a plant taxonomist, sorry, it's been

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such a long time for me to come back. She

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did not explain why it's been twelve years nor if

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super yachts were involved in the delay. As the rain intensified,

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William and Kate handed out umbrellas and helped usher the

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children indoors. Assistant headteacher Beverly Brown said, we had been

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waiting for the session to start and the children were

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very excited. As we started to move, it started to

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pour and we didn't know what to do. Prince William

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gallantly held an umbrella over an adult and children. Princess

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Kate was in amongst us and said, let them go

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in and let's take them inside. It's pouring. Inside. The

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royals joined workshops where children worked on identifying animals and

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learning about habitats. With rain spots still visible on her

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green blazer, Kate apologized, saying sorry, we're a bit wet.

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It's nice and try, and then suddenly within seconds it

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was such a lovely day when he mettered with a smile,

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but its nature in amongst King Charles visited a new

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hospital in West Midlands Wednesday and delivered what might be

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the most relatable royal commentary and British history bits don't

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work so well once you get past seventy. The seventy

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six year old monarch was speaking to eighty five year

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old Jacqueline Page, who told him she was wearing out.

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His response was basically the Royal version of tell me

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about it. During his hospital visit, Charles met with cancer

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patients and shared his own experience with the disease. He

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told one patient he was not too bad and that

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half the problem with cancer is detecting it in time.

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The King spoke with Matthew Schinder, who has late stage

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prostate cancer, and told Charles, I could go today, I

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could go tomorrow. Charles responded with genuine empathy, saying doctors

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are getting better and better at dealing with these things,

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but acknowledging there's always hope down the road. Charles also

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reminisced about his helicopter flying days with Missus Page, who

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remembered seeing him in nineteen seventy eight when he opened

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Perry Bar Stadium. She got to shake his head this time,

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and like forty seven years ago when her parents got

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the royal greeting and she was left out. The King

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remembered the wonderful old helicopter he used to fly after

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leaving the Navy in nineteen seventy six. Queen Camilla once

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fought off an attacker with remarkable resolve, using nothing but

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her shoe. The incident took place in the mid nineteen

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sixties when a teenage Camilla was traveling by train to

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London's Paddington station. According to a new book by royal

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author Valentine Lowe, a man seated next to her made

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an indecent approach. Camilla responded swiftly, removing her shoe and

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striking the man in the groin with the heel. Low

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told the BBC that Camilla later explained the episode to

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Boris Johnson during his time as Mirror of London, recounting,

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I did what my mother told me. I took off

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my shoe and I whacked him in the nuts with

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the heel. Upon arriving at Paddington, she immediately reported the

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incident to a man in uniform. Her attacker was subsequently arrested.

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The story is revealed in Power and the Palace, Low's

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forthcoming book on the mon key's relationship with political leadership.

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A former royal correspondent for The Times, Lowe said the

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story was passed along by one of Johnson's aides, who

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believes the experience shaped Camilla's later advocacy for survivors of

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domestic abuse. Lowe said Camilla had never spoken publicly about

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the assault, in part because she did not want to

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cent to her story over those of other victims. She

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didn't want to draw attention to her at the expense

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of their experiences. Palace Entry will be right back by

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a month. Then we really really appreciate your support. In

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The Spectator, Alexander Laman wonders is it possible to learn

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anything new about the royal family? Laman writes another week,

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another round of royal revelations, following swiftly on from the

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publication of Andrew Lowney's best selling denigration of the Duke

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and Duchess of York entitled There is Now Another tell

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all account of the royal family, Valentine Low's power and

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the Palace. It has recently been serialized in The Times,

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appropriately enough, given that Lowe is that newspaper's royal correspondent

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and purports to offer a well sourced and factually accurate

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account of the relationship between politics and the royal family

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over the past few years. Some of the revelations are

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largely lighthearted, such as the Queen's penchant for doing the

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washing up at Balmoral, albeit slightly and effectively a dishwasher

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was pressed into service afterwards, and her sending Barack Obama

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to bed when he was enjoying himself too much at

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a banquet at Buckingham Pallace. Others, such as the story

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that Camilla's personal support for rape crisis centers stems from

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an incident as a teenager when she narrowly avoided serious

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sexual assault on the train and ensure that attacker was arrested,

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which we just mentioned earlier, and more somber in nature,

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and all the more revelatory as a result. Still, for

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all the front page headlines, both the low and Loudy

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books suffer from the same problem. Firstly, although both offer

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detail that few if any readers would have previously been

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aware of. The stories are really just offering well researched

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anecdotes rather than anything genuinely revelatory for the most part,

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and when a truly interesting detail merges, such as the

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Queen's apparent rejection of Brexit, the question immediately is raised

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of where the information came from. Given that the best

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selling nonfiction book of all time in this country, Prince

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Harry's Spare, was chocked full of similarly incredible claims, we

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can expect a steady stream of such volumes for sometimes

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come still. As a great woman once said, recollections may vary,

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and it is important to retain an element of detachment

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while reading some of these stories. Just because you might

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wish to believe something to be true doesn't necessarily mean

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it is after all. Buckingham Palace has announced the death

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of the Duchess of Kent at the age of ninety two.

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The Duchess, wife of the Duke of Kent and cousin

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by marriage to the late Queen Elizabeth, passed away peacefully

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at Kensington Palace, surrounded by her family. In a statement,

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the palace said, it is with deep sorrow that Buckingham

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Palace announces the death of Her Royal Highness, the Duchess

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of Kent. Her Royal Highness passed away peacefully last night

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at Kensington Palace, surrounded by her family. The King and

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Queen and all members of the royal family joined the

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Duke of Kent, his children and grandchildren in mourning their

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loss and remembering fondly the Duchess's lifelong devotion to all

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the organizations with which she was associated, her passion for music,

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and her empathy for young people. Born Katherine Lucy Mary

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Worsley in Yorkshire in nineteen thirty three, she developed a

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love of music early in life, though she was not

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accepted into the Royal Academy of Music. Instead, she worked

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in nurseries before meeting Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, in

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nineteen fifty six. The couple married at york Minster in

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nineteen sixty one, in what was considered the wedding of

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the year. They went on to have three children, George,

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Earl of Saint Andrew's, Lady Helen Taylor, and Lord Nicholas Windsor.

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The Duchess became a familiar face at public events and

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was most closely associated with Bimbledon, where she presented trophies

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for many years. In nineteen ninety three, she memorably comforted

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a distraught Jana Novotna after the women's singles final. Her

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life was also marked by personal tragedy, including the loss

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of two children in the seventies. She later spoke candidly

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about how those experiences shaped her understanding of grief and

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mental health. In nineteen ninety four, she converted to Catholicism

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with the approval of the Late Queen, a decision that

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was significant given historic succession laws. In two thousand and two,

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she stepped back from royal duties, chose to forego her

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HRH style and pursuit a quieter life, teaching music under

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the name missus Kent. In a later interview, she revealed

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her pupils and their parents were unaware of her royal connections.

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Despite her withdrawal from public life, she continued to be

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admired for her warmth and passion for music. She attended

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the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in

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twenty eighteen, but did not appear at the Late Queen's

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funeral or the King's coronation. Her last public appearance was

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in October twenty twenty three alongside her husband at Kensington Palace.

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The Union flag at Buckingham Palace was lowered to half

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mast in her honor and a formal announcement has been

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posted on the palace railings and they have it to

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email us our addresses the Palace Intrigue at a gmail

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dot com. Please make sure to follow us on your player,

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your Spotify or Apple, whatever you're using, and leave us

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a nice review if you're enjoying the show. We're also

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link that's in the show notes. I'm Mark Francis. Many

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thanks to you, John McDermott, this Palace Intrigue and good

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Dams