The Duchess of Kent has died at the age of 92, Buckingham Palace has said.

Katharine – who became the oldest living member of the Royal Family when Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022 – was known for consoling Wimbledon finalists, notably a tearful Jana Novotna in 1993.

A skilled pianist, organist and singer, she dropped her HRH style, preferring to be known as Mrs Kent, and retreated from royal life to spend 13 years teaching music at a primary school in Hull.

The palace said in a statement on Friday: “It is with deep sorrow that Buckingham Palace announces the death of Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent.

“Her Royal Highness passed away peacefully last night at Kensington Palace, surrounded by her family.

“The King and Queen and all Members of The Royal Family join The Duke of Kent, his children and grandchildren in mourning their loss and remembering fondly The Duchess’s life-long devotion to all the organisations with which she was associated, her passion for music and her empathy for young people.”

The Union Flag at Buckingham Palace was lowered to half-mast as a mark of respect shortly after the duchess’s death was announced. A formal framed announcement is displayed on the palace railings.

An online condolence book will be available in the coming days and funeral details will be announced in due course.

Katharine married Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent – who is the cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II – in a grand ceremony at York Minster in 1961.

The couple have three surviving children, George, Earl of St Andrews, Lady Helen Windsor, and Lord Nicholas Windsor.

Read more:
Angela Rayner resigns
Three Britons among Lisbon crash fatalities

The duchess suffered heartbreak when she was forced to have a termination after catching German measles while pregnant in 1975. Two years later, she endured the devastation of giving birth to a stillborn son, Patrick.

She led a separate life from the Duke of Kent for many years but the couple did not divorce – and were said to be closer than ever after Edward suffered a stroke in 2013, which prompted his wife to move back into their Kensington Palace home.

Katharine’s famous Wimbledon moments

Her appearances at Wimbledon, where she presented the winners’ trophies, became a familiar feature of the summer sporting calendar.

In 1993, she put royal formalities and protocol aside to hug tearful runner-up Jana Novotna after she lost the ladies’ singles final to Steffi Graff.

Her relationship with Wimbledon authorities later soured, when she was refused permission to take the young son of murdered headmaster Philip Lawrence into the royal box at the tournament.

Three British nationals are among the 16 who died after the iconic Gloria funicular in Lisbon derailed and crashed, authorities have said.

The crash, which also left 22 people injured, happened at around 6pm on Wednesday.

Footage showed one of the railway’s two carriages practically destroyed and emergency workers pulling people out of the wreckage.

Read more
Everything we know about the Lisbon crash so far

So far, the nationalities of 11 of the people who died have been released by the authorities. They are: five people from Portugal, including four workers at a charity based near the funicular, three from Great Britain, two from Korea, and one person from Switzerland.

Brakeman Andrew Marques is the only person killed to have been identified so far.

All but one of the victims was declared dead at the scene, with the other dying of their injuries in hospital.

Sky News has contacted the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for further information on the three British victims.

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he is “deeply saddened” to hear of the British nationals who have died.

“His thoughts are with families and those affected,” they said. “We stand united with Portugal during this time.”

Majority of dead and injured foreign nationals

Among the injured are 12 women, seven men, and a three-year-old child, according to Portugal’s Civil Protection Authority.

Three who suffered injuries are from Portugal, two from Germany, one from Spain, one from Korea, one from Cape Verde, one from Canada, one from Italy, one from France, one from Switzerland, and one from Morocco.

According to CNN Portugal, the two from Germany were the three-year-old child and his mother, who were both pulled from the wreckage.

The Gloria funicular is hugely popular with tourists and classified as a national monument.

Its journey between Restauradores Square in downtown Lisbon and the Bairro Alto neighbourhood is just 265m (870ft) and three minutes long, but climbs up a steep hill, with two carriages travelling in opposite directions.

It was believed to be operating at full capacity as rush hour began in the Portuguese capital on Wednesday evening when the top car hurtled down the hill, left the tracks, and crashed into a building 30m (98ft) from the bottom.

According to the people who were in the lower carriage, a few metres into their ascent, it started going backwards. When they saw the other car speeding towards them, they jumped through the windows to escape.

Preliminary crash report due on Friday

It is not clear what caused the crash.

The Portuguese government office for air and rail accident investigations said it has completed its analysis of the crash site and will release a preliminary report on Friday.

One eyewitness who was in the lower carriage told Sky’s Europe correspondent Alistair Bunkall that the brakes appeared to fail.

Engineer Dave Cooper told Sky News on Thursday that the two carriages may have become detached from one another because of a fault with the cables.

Emergency services and engineers worked throughout the night on Thursday to remove both carriages from the site, while the other two funiculars in the city remained closed until the crash investigation concludes.

A mass was held, attended by Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro and Lisbon mayor Carlos Moedas, in memory of the victims at a nearby church on Thursday evening.

Lisbon declared three days of municipal mourning, while Portugal observed a national day of grief on Thursday.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the latest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Victims are calling for stiffer sentencing guidelines for those convicted of violence against women in Northern Ireland as it grapples with a femicide record described as an “epidemic”.

Twenty-eight women and a girl have been violently killed in Northern Ireland since 2020, the worst rate in the UK and Ireland, and one of the worst in Europe.

In the most recent incident, 45-year-old Vanessa Whyte was shot dead along with her teenage children, James and Sara, at their home in Maguiresbridge, Co Fermanagh, on 23 July.

The sole suspect, her husband Ian Rutledge, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The slaying of the family came just weeks after mother-of-two Sarah Montgomery, 27, was murdered in Donaghadee. She was pregnant with her third child, a boy. A man has been charged with her murder.

Dr Susan Lagdon, a senior lecturer in psychology at Ulster University, describes the justice system in Northern Ireland as a “secondary form of victimisation” for women, and is urging tougher sentencing.

“A system that is victim-centred is where we need to move to next, and it absolutely comes from Stormont,” Dr Lagdon said.

Ulster University has previously carried out research that found 98% of Northern Irish female respondents had experienced some form of abuse or violence in their lifetime, a figure it described as “eye-watering”.

“I can’t say there’s a single reason why,” Dr Lagdon said.

“I’d probably describe it as a perfect storm. We’re looking at multitude of things accumulating together to create an increased risk for women and girls.

“We can’t get away from our history of civil unrest, and violence within society is going to create a sense of normalisation within family homes. We also have a general distrust in our authority and so reporting and help-seeking can actually put people at risk.”

Abigail Lyle agrees. The dressage rider from Bangor, who has represented Ireland at the Olympics, was attacked by former partner and fellow equestrian Jonathan Creswell.

He was given a six-month jail term for beating Abigail.

After he was released, Creswell was accused of murdering another woman, showjumper Katie Simpson, in 2020.

“Northern Ireland is a post-conflict society and I think there’s a lot of tolerance or desensitivity towards violence,” Abigail told Sky News.

“I think there’s also a lot of that attitude that it’s not your business, don’t get involved, turn a blind eye, you don’t want to get involved with the authorities.

“That’s probably still there from the times of The Troubles.”

Jonathan Creswell killed himself during his murder trial in 2024. The Katie Simpson case forms the basis of a new Sky documentary, Death Of A Showjumper.

“You definitely have survivor’s guilt,” said Abigail.

“That was something I really dealt with after Katie because I thought why am I here and she’s not? All my violent interactions with Johnny… every time, I felt like he could have killed me. Every time. Every single altercation was terrifying.”

‘Not tragedies, they’re murders’

Journalist Tanya Fowles was instrumental in alerting police to the suspicious nature of Katie Simpson’s death. Creswell claimed she had taken her own life.

“It seems like an epidemic anyway, and it’s not getting any better,” Tanya said of the recent wave of femicides.

“If the number of women who are being murdered in their homes by their own partner was the number of police officers being killed on the streets of Northern Ireland, there’d be uproar.”

“It almost seems like the more attention is drawn to these murders – and they’re not tragedies, they’re murders – it seems to be getting worse,” added Tanya.

“I think the Northern Ireland sentencing regime is too poor,” she said.

“I think there’s a very regrettable attitude towards victims who are terrified of what’s happened, traumatised by what has happened, fearful of what the justice system holds. Sentences need to be meaningful.”

Read more:
‘Restriction zones’ to be introduced for domestic abusers
Man who tried to murder woman while on date jailed for nine years

The head of the judiciary in Northern Ireland is the Lady Chief Justice, Dame Siobhan Keegan.

In a statement, her office said the judiciary “are aware of the devastating impact on families experiencing domestic abuse”.

“The sentencing framework, within which all judges must act, is set in legislation by the Department of Justice”, the statement continued.

“Under recent legislation passed by the [Northern Ireland] Assembly, the sentencing court, in determining the appropriate sentence, must treat the fact that the offence is aggravated by domestic abuse as a factor that increases the seriousness of the offence.”

The Northern Ireland Executive launched a strategy to end violence against women and girls last year, but nobody doubts it will take time to arrest the current trend of offences.

Abigail Lyle, who now lives in England, has some optimism that things can change for the better in her home nation, but sounds a chilling note. “It’s really sad to say… but women are taking the brunt of it. Because they’re easy targets.”

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

For Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland, visit womensaidni.org, email info@womensaidni.org, or Freephone Domestic and Sexual Abuse helpline 08088021414