Archive October 3, 2025

A heartbreaking confession she made just months before her death resurfaced as tributes to the Hyacinth Bucket icon pour.

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Dame Patricia Routledge has died aged 96. The actress, best known for playing Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances, opened up about the beloved sitcom just months before she died.

Earlier this year, Patricia discussed the show and the “great difference” it made to viewers, especially those going through challenging times in their lives. Speaking on a Channel 5 documentary celebrating 30 years since the comedy ended, she said: “There are people who can’t really get beyond Keeping Up Appearances if they think about me, but it did make a great difference, and I do get the most wonderful letters.

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“I’m very grateful for that because you realise how important it is to have made people happy. I remember a wonderful letter some years ago from a little lady and she felt that the world had really come to an end.”

This woman, according to the actress, “made herself a cup of tea, sat down, and turned on the television set to play Keeping Up Appearances.” Then she said, “There you were.” It merely assisted me in surviving a very, very challenging time. It makes everything in its entirety worthwhile.

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Patricia also revealed that Keeping Up Appearances had earned praise from religious leaders and members of the Royal Family too. She said: “We were one of the Queen Mother’s favourite sitcoms, which was lovely, and the Queen enjoyed it too.”

She joked that “Hyacinth would have been flattered beyond words.” Hyacinth Bucket, the main character in Patricia’s film, was a snobbish social climber who was trying to get away from her working-class ways. The actress added that Hyacinth “jumped off the page” and knew that woman before she took the job.

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The show ran for five seasons from 1990 to 1995. Patricia chose to end it when she was 77, reportedly leaving BBC execs extremely disappointed.

She continued, “I thought the writer was beginning to recycle old ideas. Also, remembering the great Ronnie Barker, he would always stop when he was at the height of his craft and would always leave with people who would say, “Oh, aren’t you doing any more?” Instead of asking, “Is that still on? “

I had other adventures to take part in, and that’s really where I wanted to go. I wanted to tell the stories of other people because I am an actress.

Patricia reprised her role as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest after the show ended as Hetty Wainthrop in Hetty Wainthrop Investigaqtes.

While visiting a RAF base in Lincolnshire, the Princess of Wales shared the sweet revelation about her youngest son and his ambitious dreams for his future career

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The Princess of Wales has shared a sweet revelation about her youngest son, Prince Louis, and his career aspirations for the future.

Kate visited RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, marking her first visit to the base as its Royal Honorary Air Commodore. Kate performed a loop-the-loop in an RAF Typhoon jet simulator as she met pilots on the front line of the UK’s air defences.

During her visit, she spoke candidly about her three children, in particular her seven-year-old son Louis, and his ambitious plans for his future career. Arriving at the RAF base by helicopter, she began her visit with a private briefing from Group Captain Paul O’Grady and Warrant Officer Nikki Nolan.

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Kate learned about the base’s involvement in Operation Shader in the Middle East and Operation Eastern Sentry, which is helping to boost NATO presence along its Eastern flank amid growing tensions with Russia.

Kate then visited the Quick Reaction Alert hangar to view a Typhoon with one of its pilots, Wing Commander Luke ‘Wilko’ Wilkinson. The princess was engrossed with the impressive technology, as he pointed out military hardware, including missiles attached below the wings.

The princess then climbed the stairs for a closer look at the controls, appearing to reassure her guide that her heels would not stop her.

While peering inside, the Princess of Wales made the candid admission about Prince Louis, sharing that he is keen to become a fighter pilot, but added: “I’m going to tell them (her children) it takes eight years and a lot of hard work.”

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One team member presented her with three model Typhoons for her children and said to her: “Somebody told us that your children were very excited about you seeing a plane.”

Kate replied: “They’ll be very upset that I’ve seen a Typhoon without them.”

During her visit, Kate headed to the Typhoon Future Synthetic Training Facility, where instructor Geraint White invited her to step inside the futuristic simulator. “Would you like a go?” he asked, to which she replied: “Yes, I’d love to.”

Inside, she told him she had not used a simulator to fly a plane before, but had tried one used to train helicopter pilots. But the princess seemed to take to her simulated flight with ease and appeared to enjoy her virtual climb from RAF Coningsby enough to perform the aerobatic stunt.

Speaking afterwards, Group Captain Paul O’Grady said: “She seems to be a natural pilot so we might have to get her qualified and get her flying a Typhoon, if she’s up for it.”

The future Queen’s visit to the RAF base was her first since she became Royal Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Coningsby in August 2023.

Princess Andre proved she’s a celebrity in her own right with a solo appearance at a VIP launch event at Thorpe Park last night, while her mum Katie Price has been concerning fans

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Princess Andre stunned at the VIP launch night of Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights on Thursday as continues to pave her own career in the spotlight.

The 18-year-old, whose parents are Peter Andre and Katie Price, has been a model and influencer for a couple of years now – and she recently landed her own ITV2 reality show, The Princess Diaries, which followed her rise to fame that even included launching her own makeup range.

Now she regularly attends showbiz events by herself – and this week was no exception. The teenager rocked a Y2K-inspired look as she showed off her tanned midriff in a white tank top and camouflage combat trousers that showed her Calvin Klein underwear poking out the top. She completed her look with white Nike trainers, a white puffer jacket and a cross body Louis Vuitton handbag.

Her outing came as her mum Katie faced a backlash over her ‘concerning’ behaviour on stage with best pal Kerry Katona. The former glamour model, 47, and Kerry, 45, are currently touring the UK with their stage show and have faced hiccups on their tour so far – with the Atomic Kitten star even walking off stage in the middle of a show at one point.

READ MORE: Gareth Gates fuming as ‘biggest regret’ Katie Price takes cruel swing and ‘uses him again’

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Katie, who has been declared bankrupt twice, was over two hours late to one show – with Kerry facing the audience solo. An Evening with Katie Price & Kerry Katona has even seen police called over rowdy fans who were ordered to leave. And Katie was reportedly “booted” out of her hotel during another stop off. She has also drawn criticism for vaping on stage, when smoking or vaping is banned in all venues.

Their latest show took them to Harpenden in Hertfordshire, where Katie’s kids Junior, 20, and Princess joined the audience, along with Kerry’s daughter Heidi Croft, who is also 18, the same age as Princess.

A source suggested having her children at the show made Katie stressed. “She hid behind a cushion, vaping with stress because her children were there which meant she couldn’t host the show properly,” they said. They added that Kerry “carried the show” with “crass humour”, while “Katie looked and acted bored and uninterested the whole way through”.

Another source said fans were calling for refunds at a show where Katie was reportedly only on stage only 35 minutes. But the show’s representatives denied that this has happened for any show on the tour.

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Hitting back at the claims having her kids in the audience caused her to have a ‘meltdown’, Katie’s representative told the Daily Mail: “Katie and Kerry’s children have been at many nights of the tour. There is no stress to Katie or anyone else as a result of this.

“The show is different every night, irrespective of their children being present. I watch the show remotely every night when I am not there in person. The performance in question was extremely well received by the audience. Katie was not bored or uninterested – she’s just extremely laid back as a person.”

Katie has been making fans worried outside of the tour too, as she had to go to hospital for tests after losing a drastic amount of weight. Her boyfriend JJ Slater reportedly is worried she’s “running herself into the ground”.

A source told Mirror: “JJ and Katie’s family think she is putting way too much pressure on herself. She’s been constantly on the move with tour shows, but isn’t right mentally or physically – something she knows deep down. JJ is terrified of her losing any more weight. It’s not an easy thing to sit back and watch your partner running themselves into the ground health-wise.”

Katie revealed recently she doesn’t know why she’s losing weight and has been to see doctors about it. Opening up about it, she told fans: “The reason I’m going to the doctors is because I keep losing weight and I don’t know why. So that’s that.”

“It’s not just the weight loss – Katie isn’t sleeping either and is having more side effects than she might be letting on,” says our insider. “But she is determined to work through it. She feels like she’s flying high right now and doesn’t want to lose that.”

READ MORE: Kate Middleton’s suede jacket is autumn’s new trending colour – here’s where to shop the look

Princess Andre proved she’s a celebrity in her own right with a solo appearance at a VIP launch event at Thorpe Park last night, while her mum Katie Price has been concerning fans

View 3 Images

Princess Andre stunned at the VIP launch night of Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights on Thursday as continues to pave her own career in the spotlight.

The 18-year-old, whose parents are Peter Andre and Katie Price, has been a model and influencer for a couple of years now – and she recently landed her own ITV2 reality show, The Princess Diaries, which followed her rise to fame that even included launching her own makeup range.

Now she regularly attends showbiz events by herself – and this week was no exception. The teenager rocked a Y2K-inspired look as she showed off her tanned midriff in a white tank top and camouflage combat trousers that showed her Calvin Klein underwear poking out the top. She completed her look with white Nike trainers, a white puffer jacket and a cross body Louis Vuitton handbag.

Her outing came as her mum Katie faced a backlash over her ‘concerning’ behaviour on stage with best pal Kerry Katona. The former glamour model, 47, and Kerry, 45, are currently touring the UK with their stage show and have faced hiccups on their tour so far – with the Atomic Kitten star even walking off stage in the middle of a show at one point.

READ MORE: Gareth Gates fuming as ‘biggest regret’ Katie Price takes cruel swing and ‘uses him again’

View 3 Images

Katie, who has been declared bankrupt twice, was over two hours late to one show – with Kerry facing the audience solo. An Evening with Katie Price & Kerry Katona has even seen police called over rowdy fans who were ordered to leave. And Katie was reportedly “booted” out of her hotel during another stop off. She has also drawn criticism for vaping on stage, when smoking or vaping is banned in all venues.

Their latest show took them to Harpenden in Hertfordshire, where Katie’s kids Junior, 20, and Princess joined the audience, along with Kerry’s daughter Heidi Croft, who is also 18, the same age as Princess.

A source suggested having her children at the show made Katie stressed. “She hid behind a cushion, vaping with stress because her children were there which meant she couldn’t host the show properly,” they said. They added that Kerry “carried the show” with “crass humour”, while “Katie looked and acted bored and uninterested the whole way through”.

Another source said fans were calling for refunds at a show where Katie was reportedly only on stage only 35 minutes. But the show’s representatives denied that this has happened for any show on the tour.

View 3 Images

Hitting back at the claims having her kids in the audience caused her to have a ‘meltdown’, Katie’s representative told the Daily Mail: “Katie and Kerry’s children have been at many nights of the tour. There is no stress to Katie or anyone else as a result of this.

“The show is different every night, irrespective of their children being present. I watch the show remotely every night when I am not there in person. The performance in question was extremely well received by the audience. Katie was not bored or uninterested – she’s just extremely laid back as a person.”

Katie has been making fans worried outside of the tour too, as she had to go to hospital for tests after losing a drastic amount of weight. Her boyfriend JJ Slater reportedly is worried she’s “running herself into the ground”.

A source told Mirror: “JJ and Katie’s family think she is putting way too much pressure on herself. She’s been constantly on the move with tour shows, but isn’t right mentally or physically – something she knows deep down. JJ is terrified of her losing any more weight. It’s not an easy thing to sit back and watch your partner running themselves into the ground health-wise.”

Katie revealed recently she doesn’t know why she’s losing weight and has been to see doctors about it. Opening up about it, she told fans: “The reason I’m going to the doctors is because I keep losing weight and I don’t know why. So that’s that.”

“It’s not just the weight loss – Katie isn’t sleeping either and is having more side effects than she might be letting on,” says our insider. “But she is determined to work through it. She feels like she’s flying high right now and doesn’t want to lose that.”

READ MORE: Kate Middleton’s suede jacket is autumn’s new trending colour – here’s where to shop the look