Hundreds attend Patricia Routledge's funeral

BBC

Mourners have gathered for the funeral of actress Dame Patricia Routledge, known for playing Hyacinth Bucket in classic TV sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.

Her agent said she died "peacefully in her sleep" at the age of 96 on 3 October, "surrounded by love".

Hundreds of people are attending the actress' funeral at Chichester Cathedral in West Sussex on Wednesday.

The funeral service was introduced as a day to celebrate a "dear friend" for her long life and "many achievements".

Laura Raymond/BBC

Those attending had been asked to donate to The Patricia Routledge Foundation, a grant-making charity which supports a range of charitable causes, in honour of the late actress.

The first reading was by Peter Bourke, an actor known for his roles in The Mayor Of Casterbridge and David Copperfield.

The late actress was remembered for her "versatility and her humanity".

The tribute, read by Reverend Nicholas Fraying, brought some of the gathered congregation to tears as he told stories from Dame Patricia's life.

He said she was known around the world for her role as as Hyacinth Bucket - pronounced "bouquet" - because "everywhere people like laughing at the English".

There was laughter from the congregation when he recalled Dame Patricia remarking: "I'm very big in Botswana."

The show ran from 1990 to 1995, and the following year she was voted the nation's most popular actress at the BBC's 60th anniversary awards.

During tributes to the actress during the funeral, her "deep concern for the suffering of the world" was remembered.

Rev Nicholas Frayling said upon seeing images of Gaza she quoted TS Eliot saying: "After such knowledge, what forgiveness?"

He added: "She never lost the capacity for hope… but she knew the difference between hope and optimism."

In her final hours, Dame Patricia read passages from Yeats and Shakespeare with her carer, the service was told.

Mr Frayling ended his tribute at Chichester Cathedral with the words, "Walk on with hope in your heart and you'll never walk alone", a lyric from the musical Carousel, which Dame Patricia had starred in on stage.

The actress also starred in Alan Bennett's TV monologues and played BBC One's amateur sleuth Hetty Wainthropp, while also enjoying an acclaimed stage career.

Canon David Nason was a close friend of Dame Patricia for more than 30 years and the pair met through his role as a theatre chaplain.

He said: "Some way or another we kind of stuck together through thick and thin, through the highs and the lows."

Canon Nason said he used to read fan letters to her from "all over the world" towards the end of her life.

"It's amazing what they said and the joy that she brought to people," he added.

"People who had been suffering terrible diseases, they'd watch one of her [shows], well Keeping Up Appearances usually, and it had made them feel a whole lot better."

Laura Raymond/BBC

Canon Nason explained that Dame Patricia had designed her funeral about four years ago, including all the music.

Simon Goodwin, who came to the cathedral to pay his respects, said: "She was a really incredible woman, very knowledgeable of a lot of things."

Gary Kirby, who also came to the cathedral, added: "I've watched her for years and I just thought she was amazing, so I just feel very lucky to be here."

Local resident Anne Priest described the late actress as "very much a lady of Chichester".

The Birkenhead-born star was celebrated for her performances on stage as well as screen after starting her career in the theatre in the 1950s.

Following roles in London's West End, she established herself in the US when she won the Tony Award for best lead actress in a musical on Broadway in New York for Darling of the Day in 1968.

She was as adept at serious drama as she was at musicals and comedy - she appeared in Richard III and Henry V for the Royal Shakespeare Company, then won an Olivier Award for best actress in a musical for Candide in the 1980s.

The 80s also saw her become a national TV star - playing Kitty in Victoria Wood's As Seen on TV, and delivering three of Bennett's renowned Talking Heads monologues, including 1988's A Lady of Letters, for which she received a Bafta Award nomination.

She earned two further Bafta nominations, for Keeping Up Appearances, in 1992 and 1993, then starred in the title role as a retired woman on a quest to solve crimes in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates between 1996 and 1998.

The actress appeared numerous times at Chichester Festival Theatre, near her home in West Sussex.

She was made an OBE in 1993, a CBE in 2004, and a dame in 2017.