{"id":944702,"date":"2026-05-07T22:16:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T22:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/944702\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T22:16:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T22:16:28","slug":"the-duke-of-kent-90-joins-forces-with-king-charles-for-a-milestone-service-at-st-pauls-cathedral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/944702\/","title":{"rendered":"The Duke of Kent, 90, joins forces with King Charles for a milestone service at St Paul&#8217;s Cathedral"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thursday\u2019s event marked a significant milestone for the King, who attended the service for the first time since he was named Sovereign of the order upon ascending to the throne. His Majesty was welcomed to the cathedral by the Lady Mayor of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/london-uk\" isautogenerated=\"true\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">London<\/a>, Dame Susan Langley, and took a seat next to the Duke of Kent, who is the oldest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/living\" isautogenerated=\"true\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">living<\/a> member of the royal family.<\/p>\n<p>While the Duke of Kent has been a pillar of support for the royal family ever since he retired from the British Army in 1976, he has been slowing down his engagements in recent years due to his advancing age. The Duke has also been mourning the death of his beloved wife, Katharine, Duchess of Kent, since September.<\/p>\n<p>When the Duke\u2019s daughter, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/lady-helen-taylor\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lady Helen Taylor<\/a>, was asked last year whether her father might soon consider retiring, she cautioned that he may soon look to wind down his royal engagements. \u2018I don\u2019t want him to. I mean, he sort of is naturally, because his body won&#8217;t let him go at the speed that he would like to,\u2019 she told True Royalty <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/TV\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TV<\/a>, \u2018but I don&#8217;t want him to retire because what will he do?\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Charles Prince of Wales Prince William Duke of Cambridge Anne Princess Royal Person and Adult\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2271825255.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>In April, the Duke of Kent joined the House of Windsor, including his rarely seen cousin, Princess Alexandra, for a photo marking the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II&#8217;s birth<\/p>\n<p>Aaron Chown &#8211; PA Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>If this year\u2019s schedule is anything to go by, the Duke is still looking to serve the Firm however he can. In April, he joined his fellow working <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/royals\" isautogenerated=\"true\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">royals<\/a> for a portrait to celebrate the centenary of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/queen-elizabeth-ii\" isautogenerated=\"true\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Queen Elizabeth II<\/a>, with whom he enjoyed a warm friendship.<\/p>\n<p>On 18 February, he joined his brother, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/prince-michael-of-kent\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Prince Michael of Kent<\/a>, and his cousin, the Duke of Gloucester, at the Army &amp; Navy Club on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/pall-mall\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pall Mall<\/a> for the Senior Serving and Retired Officers\u2019 Briefing. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/prince-edward\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Prince Edward<\/a> kicked off the year with a dinner commemorating his 60th anniversary as a member of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/westminster\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Westminster<\/a> and Keystone Chapter Number 10 of the United Grand Lodge of England. This was followed up by a visit to Wigmore Hall, one of his beloved patronages, to attend a concert by Dame Imogen Cooper. In March, he also marked the 30th anniversary of the Bletchley Park Trust, one of his patronages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thursday\u2019s event marked a significant milestone for the King, who attended the service for the first time since&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":944703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,2635,393,4884,518,257,12,448,16,15],"class_list":["post-944702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-britain","tag-duke-of-kent","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-king-charles-iii","tag-london","tag-news","tag-royals","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116535609868935916","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944702","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=944702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}