Duke Of Kent To Marry

Press, Volume C, Issue 29459, 10 March 1961, Page 8

Duke Of Kent To Marry

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) LONDON. March 9. The Duke oi Kent, eighth in line of succession to the throne, is to marry M»ss Katharine Worsley, it was announced from Kensington Palace tonight. Palace last night. The Duke, a cousin of the Queen, will be 26 next October. His fiancee was 28 last month. She is attractive, slim, fair-haired, blue-eyed, and of medium height. A Kensington Palace court circular said: "It is with the greatest pleasure that the Duchess of Kent announces the betrothal of her elder son. Prince Edward. Duke of Kent, to Katherine, only daughter of Sir William ahd Lad}’ Worsley, to which union the Queen has gladly given her consent." Sir William Worsley is Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire. Court circles said that the Duke, a captain in the Royal Scots Greys and now attached to the War Office, met Miss Worsley four years ago when he was stationed at Catterick Camn. Yorkshire. He told the Queen the news of his engagement in January before she and the Duke of Edinburgh left on their tour. The date and place of the wedding are expected to be announced shortly. Court circles said that the couple well live at Coppins at Tver in Buckinghamshire, a country house with 120 acres of farmland which the Duke inherited on coming of age. The Australian Prime Minister (Mr Menzies! is expected to discuss the possibility of the Duke becoming aide-de-camp to the GovernorGeneral while he is in London for •'fhe current Com-

monwealth Prime Ministers' ■ conference. There has already been speculation in' Australia that the Duke 1 might be given the position I of aide-de-camp. The Duke is due to repre-, sent the Queen at Sierra Leone’s independence celebrations in April. The Duke loves jazz, fast cars and ski-ing, while Miss Worsley is fond of English country life. She is an excellent horsewoman and plays the piano well. Miss Worsley. who is staying at Kensington Palace for a day or two as the guest nf her future mother-in-law. taught at a London school from 1953 to 1955. then went home to help her mother at Hovingham Hall. She studied French and the piano at Oxford. Miss Worsley has three brothers: one. Mr Marcus Worsley. 35. has been a Conservative member of Parliament since 1959. It is understood that the Duke will remain in the I Army after his marriage.