{"id":402326,"date":"2025-09-06T09:45:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T09:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/402326\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T09:45:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T09:45:21","slug":"hull-schools-tributes-to-lovely-lass-the-duchess-of-kent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/402326\/","title":{"rendered":"Hull school’s tributes to ‘lovely lass’ the Duchess of Kent"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RebeccaRebecca Naden\/PA<\/p>\n

The Duchess of Kent taught music in a Hull primary school for a number of years<\/p>\n

Former pupils at a Hull primary school have paid tribute to the Duchess of Kent following her death at the age 92.<\/p>\n

She spent years teaching music to students at Wansbeck Primary School and was known as Mrs Kent to the children, who did not know she was a member of the Royal Family.<\/p>\n

Sophie Usher sang in the choir organised by the Duchess and said that the music lessons encouraged her to attend school.<\/p>\n

“She was a lovely lass, she was here, she was funny,” Ms Usher said.<\/p>\n

“I did quite a lot with her through school and then when I was upset she used to talk to me.<\/p>\n

“I can’t believe she’s gone, to be honest.”<\/p>\n

\"Sophie<\/p>\n

Former pupil Sophie Usher said the music lessons encouraged her to go to school<\/p>\n

Born into a wealthy Yorkshire family, Katharine Worsley married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, in 1961.<\/p>\n

The Duchess offered to teach at the east Hull school after a visit in 1996. <\/p>\n

Her work was kept secret for years, with her role only revealed in 2004.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the time, she said: “Primary school children are like little sponges.<\/p>\n

“They are very eager to learn, so teaching them is very satisfying.”<\/p>\n

\"Jackson<\/p>\n

Jackson Windas went on school trips to London organised by the Duchess<\/p>\n

Another of the former choristers recalled performing at Christmas concerts and trips to London, organised by Mrs Kent.<\/p>\n

Jackson Windas described her as a “really, really genuine woman”.<\/p>\n

“She was more than a teacher, really,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When we got told who she was, it didn’t change a thing.<\/p>\n

“She was lovely.”<\/p>\n

\"Head<\/p>\n

The school’s current head teacher Samantha Bullen said the Duchess was “committed” to her music teaching<\/p>\n

The school’s current head teacher, Samantha Bullen, said staff had fond memories of working with the Duchess, who “became part of the community”.<\/p>\n

“She’d go in the staff room, she’d make herself a cup of tea,” she said.<\/p>\n

“She literally just was part of the team. She committed to it. <\/p>\n

“It wasn’t just a couple of visits she did to our school, it was over many years that she came and she just was the music teacher, Mrs Kent.”<\/p>\n

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds<\/a>, watch the latest episode of Look North<\/a> or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Download the BBC News app from the App Store<\/a> for iPhone and iPad or Google Play<\/a> for Android devices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rebecca Naden\/PA The Duchess of Kent taught music in a Hull primary school for a number of years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[5105,7710,519,448],"class_list":{"0":"post-402326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-royal","9":"tag-royal-families","10":"tag-royal-family","11":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115156715403082177","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}