The Duchess of Kent: The Troubled Life of Katharine Worsley

About this book

Katharine Worsleys wedding to the Duke of Kent in 1961 plunged her into a life for which she was ill-prepared and emotionally unequipped. Despite her grave doubts about the wisdom of the marriage she struggled to come to terms with royal duty and endured the shadow of her formidable mother-in-law Princess Marina. Then personal tragedies led to a nervous breakdown and a chronicle of ill-health. Mary Riddells book addresses the evolution of the Kent marriage from populist fairytale promoted by her ambitious parents to a collapsed relationship shored up only after the intervention of the monarchy and the Church of England. She also examines the destructive impact of the Royal Family and its courtiers on outsiders drawn into the inner circle.