As the Duke of Kent led his family at the Requiem Mass for his late wife, his daughter, Lady Helen Taylor, paid special tribute to her mother through her jewellery choices.
The only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent held her father’s arm as he entered and exited Westminster Cathedral, and eagle-eyed viewers noticed that Lady Helen was wearing a diamond floral brooch that belonged to her mother.
The late Duchess of Kent received the diamond brooch from her mother-in-law, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, upon her death in 1968. The diamond brooch had been a gift for launching a ship in 1954, and Princess Marina wore it regularly for the rest of her life.
After Katharine inherited the brooch, it too became a staple in her wardrobe. She wore it both as a brooch on her dresses and attached to a pearl choker as a necklace; her retirement from royal life meant that the diamond brooch hadn’t been seen in decades until Lady Helen Taylor wore it at her mother’s funeral.
Lady Helen also appears to have worn her mother’s diamond-and-sapphire engagement ring on her right hand.
The Duke of Kent became engaged to Katharine Worsley in early 1961, and he proposed with a ring featuring an oval sapphire flanked by round diamonds. The couple were married at York Minster on 8 June of that year.
