Overview
- Scores of mourners attended the service in West Sussex, which was introduced as a celebration of a dear friend’s long life and many achievements.
- The Very Reverend Nicholas Frayling read a tribute praising her instinct for character and her compassion for people facing loneliness, addiction, homelessness and unemployment.
- Speakers noted she gave more than £1 million to causes helping young people in music and theatre, with ongoing grants to be managed by the Patricia Routledge Foundation.
- Routledge died on October 3 at age 96, widely known for Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances and for finding particular satisfaction in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates.
- The BBC sitcom ran from 1990 to 1995 and became a major export, with coverage also recalling the later lives and deaths of several principal cast members.