‘I even like BEATBOXING’: Duchess of Kent, 89, reveals taste for Eminem and Ice Cube
LONDON, ENGLAND: The Duchess of Kent has revealed her love for rap music, with Eminem and Ice Cube among her favorite artists in the genre. The 89-year-old, who is married to the Queen’s cousin, Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, said she has an open mind when it comes to music. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Katharine, the Duchess revealed, “I’ll listen to anything, I just love music." she told the paper. "Something that catches my ear on the radio, I don’t really listen to records. If it makes my feet tap then I’m happy.”
Although the Duchess admitted she does not know the names of all rappers, she has a fondness for the 'Lose Yourself' singer as well as the former NWA member. Eminem's global success and acclaimed works are widely regarded as having broken racial barriers for the acceptance of white rappers in popular music, while rapper Ice Cube has also appeared in about 40 films. “I even like beatboxing,” the duchess added. When she retired from the royal circuit, many thought the Duchess had become something of a recluse but the truth was very different. Further revealed, she had been teaching music at a state primary school in Hull most of the time in anonymity, for 13 years. In 1993, overhearing the head speaking about the desperate need for a music teacher, the duchess volunteered. Speaking on 'The Alan Titchmarsh Show' in 2011, she described how she was known to her pupils at Wansbeck Primary School as plain ‘Mrs Kent.’
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As a schoolgirl she was taught to play the piano, the violin and the organ, narrowly missing out on a place at the Royal Academy of Music. She pursued her passion for music through finishing school in Oxford and grew up dreaming of playing at 'Carnegie Hall.' She said: ‘When I was teaching the first thing I began to notice was the power of music as a stimulant to these children to give them confidence and self-belief. I began to see that happen all the time. ‘Some of the children I taught haven’t necessarily become musicians, but the confidence it has given them, some have joined the Army, some to university, which they might not have done otherwise. ‘I have always loved talent, I love that tickle up the neck when you see the talent and I began to realize I was teaching some very, very gifted children."
Following teaching, the Duchess set up music charity Future Talent in 2004 to 'break down barriers, create opportunities and harness the power of music to transform lives across the UK.' The Duchess has three children with her husband, Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, Lady Helen Taylor and Lord Nicholas Windsor. However, following the stillbirth of her fourth child in 1977, she suffered recurrent health problems. Her withdrawal from the royal circuit later led to claims that she had become a recluse. Public appearances became even rarer following her decision to convert to Catholicism in 1994, the first senior royal to convert publicly since the passing of the 1701 Act of Settlement. However, it was then revealed the duchess had in fact been busy working with UNICEF and then in Hull.