Princess Alexandra withdrew at the eleventh hour from a concert held at Sinfonia Smith Square in Westminster on Sunday, honouring the legacy of Katharine, Duchess of Kent, it has been reported.
The Court Circular – the official log of royal duties – recorded the princess had been present at the Future Talent performance. In reality, she never made it.
“The princess unfortunately had to pull out at the last moment,” a source told the Daily Mail.
Her abrupt cancellation has prompted fresh worry over the health of Alexandra, who turns 90 on Christmas Day.
Despite growing frailty that has curtailed her public diary in recent years, the princess had been keen to attend the tribute to her cherished sister-in-law, who passed away a year ago at the age of 92.
Alexandra – the last surviving bridesmaid from Queen Elizabeth’s 1947 wedding – has not been seen at an official engagement for nearly half a year.
Her most recent appearance was at a Buckingham Palace reception held to commemorate the centenary of her first cousin Queen Elizabeth’s birth.
Princess Alexandra withdrew at the eleventh hour from a concert held at Sinfonia Smith Square in Westminster on Sunday, honouring the legacy of Katharine, Duchess of Kent, it has been reported
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Several members of the Royal Family were, however, in attendance at the event, which was presented by television’s Alexander Armstrong.
Alexandra’s brothers – the Duke of Kent, aged 90, and Prince Michael of Kent, 84 – were both present.
Lady Helen Taylor and Lord Nicholas Windsor, two of the late duchess’s three children, also joined the occasion, alongside their nephew Lord Freddie Windsor and his wife, actress Sophie Winkleman.
Nicholas Robinson, who co-founded Future Talent alongside Katharine, said: “It was an honour to welcome so many members of Katharine’s family to celebrate the wonderful musical legacy she has left in Future Talent.”
The Duke of Kent, aged 90, joined family members and dozens of young musicians on Sunday evening at Sinfonia Smith Square for a concert celebrating the life of his late wife, the Duchess of Kent
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GETTYThe evening was described as a fitting reflection of the Duchess herself: beautiful, understated, and centred on the young musicians she devoted her life to championing.
Mr Armstrong told the packed audience that love was the unifying theme of the evening: “Katharine’s love of life, her love of music, but most particularly, her love of people in all their infinite variety.”
He added: “She would frequently just ring them out of the blue, just to hear how they were getting on.”
The duchess passed away in September at the age of 92, having established Future Talent in 2004, just two years after she withdrew from official royal duties and turned her back on the formalities of Palace life.
She preferred to go by Mrs Kent and for more than a decade travelled by train each week to a state primary school in Hull, where she secretly taught music.
Her funeral at Westminster Cathedral marked the first Catholic service for a royal family member in modern British history, following her 1993 conversion to Catholicism.