In 2005, for our regular inside back-page interview, Katharine, Duchess of Kent talked to us about her life with music and named her six favourite pieces of music.
Now, to mark the Duchess of Kent's passing, we reproduce that interview.
Katharine, Duchess of Kent, studied piano and organ while at school, and French and music in Oxford. She supported the BBC Young Musician competition since its inception in 1978. She took up teaching again in 1993, at a primary school in East Hull. Her frustration at seeing musical talent not given a chance to develop led to the formation of the Future Talent charity.
I learnt the piano as a child. I distinctly remember the moment when I was playing the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 5., K. 175, at a school concert. It starts with a bold D major chord and I was so nervous I flung my fingers down on to the wrong notes. The teacher was very helpful and said ‘take a deep breath and start again’. I really feel for children performing now. I had a very high vision of what I was going to do, but reality set in when I was about 16 and I realised I wasn’t going to play Carnegie Hall!
There are many pieces of music that I love – I shall never forget hearing two eight-year-old violinists playing the Bach Double Violin Concerto at the Yehudi Menuhin School years ago. Choristers singing Bach’s B Minor Mass also never fail to move me. But teaching in a primary school has given me the most profound musical experiences.
I come from Yorkshire and had known that the area in East Hull was deprived. When I visited the Longhill estate I knew I wanted to bring music to the two primary schools there. I taught in one of them for 12 years. I learnt that teaching really is a two-way process: I learnt as much from the children as they did from me. With their input, we did everything from rap to Billy Joel to Benjamin Britten.
I noticed at concerts, where the choir’s programme would always be very mixed, that if I gave them a choice of what to sing as an encore, they would always want to sing the most challenging, classical pieces. I heard the Westminster Choir sing ‘How beautiful are the feet’ from Handel’s Messiah in the cathedral, and I thought, ‘We could do that – why not?’ And they did, they rose to it. They also sang I got Rhythm really well and I’ll never forget Somewhere over the Rainbow – that clear octave leap which they managed so beautifully.
One boy I taught was, I think, the most musically gifted I’ve ever encountered. He had perfect pitch and music pouring out of him; you never had to tell him how to communicate a song to an audience. His eyes and face were full of expression as he sang. Twice a year the primary school choir would hold a joint concert with the local secondary school, and they had to go in and sing three songs in front of 700 15 and 16 year-olds. Not easy.
But when this boy soared up to the top A flat in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 'Pie Jesu', it was so beautiful my eyes pricked with tears and the 16 year-olds stood up and applauded. It is so exciting to see a child realising their potential in that way, a sense of achievement in a world where expectations are so low, where parents don’t believe that they could possibly have musically gifted children. Perhaps it was this incident above all that inspired my charity, because I saw the need to provide stepping stones for a boy like that, advice and support to him and to his parents, good teachers, a network that he would have had no access to.
I used to take my classes to the City Hall in Hull to watch the Hallé orchestra rehearse. The orchestra's conductor Mark Elder would sit the children on the stage, with pen and paper to write down their reaction. But the first time, they were so overwhelmed by the sound of the orchestra they didn’t write a word. Later a boy said to me, ‘Mr Elder says it’s taken him three whole years to be as good as he is. If I work for three years I’ll be twelve and then I’ll be as good as that!’.
Mark is now the President of Future Talent, and I’ve had support from many BBC Young Musicians competition winners, who have come to play at fund-raising events, including the percussionist Adrian Spillett and cellist Guy Johnston, who is now a patron. When I’ve got the organisation fully up and running I will go back to teaching, which I miss desperately. It puts music back at the centre of my life.
Six more musical Royals
1. Henry VIII of England
Famed not only for his reign but also for composing several pieces, the Tudor monarch is often linked with the enduring English folk standard Greensleeves.
2. Queen Elizabeth I
An accomplished harpsichordist in her youth, she embodied musical sophistication, often performing in the vibrant court culture of the late Renaissance.
3. King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand
Widely remembered for his deeply personal engagement with music, he was a prolific composer and masterful jazz clarinetist and saxophonist.
4. Emperor Naruhito (then Crown Prince Naruhito) of Japan
An accomplished violist, he surprised many with impromptu performances, notably showcasing his talent during a tour in Mongolia.
5. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Their musical passion transformed the royal court into a melodic hub—both were skilled pianists (Victoria strongly) and deeply invested in musical life.
6. Archduke Rudolf of Austria
A talented pianist and composer, he was an heir to the Habsburg dynasty whose creative output included chamber pieces and piano works.
Pics Getty Images
