Forget James Bond—the Royal Family had their own undercover operative hiding in plain sight for years. While you might picture royals spending their days waving from carriages and cutting ribbons (or cakes), one member of the family gave all of this up in favor of a secret life as a school teacher...and Queen Elizabeth totally approved.
Katharine, the Duchess of Kent, married The Queen's cousin Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, in 1961. While Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle make headlines for their royal fashion today, the duchess, 92, was known for her standout style as she carried out royal engagements.
The duke and duchess raised three children, George Windsor, Lady Helen Taylor and Lord Nicholas Windsor, and Katharine was a regular part of royal life. But in 1996, the Duchess of Kent—who now lives at Kensington Palace—decided she wanted to pursue a bit more of an everyday job back in Yorkshire where she grew up.
"There was nothing that I felt I wanted to hide away from," she told the Guardian in 2014, explaining that she felt the need to become a primary school music teacher.
"It was just something that happened in my life. I was always—I wouldn’t say proud of it, but I was glad I did it," she continued, adding, "I was supported through it as well. The Queen said: 'Yes, go and do it,' so I did."
The duchess went on teach music at Wansbeck Primary School in Hull, England—a good four-hour drive from London—for 13 years. "I was just known as Mrs Kent," she told the Guardian.
She revealed that despite her royal status, only the school's headmaster knew her true identity. "The parents didn’t know and the pupils didn’t know. No one ever noticed. There was no publicity about it at all, it just seemed to work," the Duchess of Kent said.
While she eventually gave up the job and resides with her husband at Kensington Palace, the 92-year-old duchess is rarely seen at royal events. She did, however, make a fashion statement at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's 2018 wedding in a floral Erdem dress teamed with a pair of Hogan sneakers.
Back to music, the duchess revealed her surprising favorite artists in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, sharing she's a big fan of rap. "If you see someone on the M40 looking particularly dotty it’s me trying to rap in the car going home," she admitted, sharing she loves Eminem and Ice Cube.
"I even like beat boxing," the Duchess of Kent revealed. A secret life, indeed.
