🔗 Share this article

Lady Patricia Routledge, who passed away at the age of 96, etched her presence on the British psyche as the pretentious Hyacinth Bouquet.

Declaring it was "pronounced Bouquet," the character ran roughshod over her long-suffering husband and bewildered neighbours in Keeping Up Appearances, among Britain's most successful sitcoms in the 1990s.

Behaving like a duchess while living in a suburban area, Bucket's monstrous social-climbing schemes were ultimately destined to collapse—while she struggled to maintain her composure.

It was Dame Patricia's most famous part in a career that included her earn theatrical honors on each side of the ocean, become the star of the playwright's celebrated TV monologues, and star as BBC1's investigative Hetty Wainthropp.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Katherine Pat Routledge was born in Birkenhead on 17 February 1929.

Her father was a clothier and she later recalled taking cover from German air raids in the basement of his shop during the war.

She majored in literature at nearby Liverpool University and planned to become a teacher. Instead, she joined the Liverpool Playhouse prior to training at the Bristol drama school.

Her prosperous acting journey brought her from the regions to the West End, and finally to New York, where the composer chose her to star in his musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.

She had previously received a Tony honor for her performance in Darling of the Day.

She could transition smoothly from lighthearted plays to classics.

She went from Shakespeare's birthplace, performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and later to the National Theatre in the capital.

There, her lead role in the theatre production Carousel involved her singing the inspiring You'll Never Walk Alone.

She also took several minor movie parts, especially in the 1967 film To Sir, With Love, and the Jerry Lewis comedy outing Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.

Her theatre and broadcast performances proved her range and earned her accolades, but it was the small screen that provided Routledge with her most high profile roles.

TV Success and Iconic Characters

Early television appearances included well-liked shows like Z Cars and Steptoe and Son.

Subsequently, among Britain's most respected playwrights, Alan Bennett, penned a series of remarkable Talking Heads TV solos for her.

Routledge conquered her early reluctance to act his scripts and excelled as A Woman of No Importance and A Lady of Letters.

She later portray a lonely, mid-life shop assistant tipped into a relationship with a kinky podiatrist in Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.

A comic turn as the exaggerated character on The Victoria Wood Show resulted in the creation of Mrs. Bouquet.

Routledge remembered being sent the episodes by the writer, the screenwriter—who had also done Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours.

"I opened the pages for a moment at 1 a.m. in the morning," she said, "I went straight through and Hyacinth leapt off the script. I recognized that lady, I'd met a few of that woman."

Keeping Up Appearances aired for five series and featured several holiday specials.

In a documentary, she stated that fans had included Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and the pontiff.

It became BBC Worldwide's most-sold programme ever and meant Routledge was known as far away as Africa.

For her work on the sitcom, she was voted the UK's all-time best-loved actor in 1996, but after five years in the part, she felt it was time for a new direction.

"I brought it to an end," she said, "which, of course, the broadcaster wasn't pleased with very much."

She believed that Roy Clarke was beginning to recycle ideas and mentioned a bit of advice from the performer, Ronnie Barker.

"He always left with audiences saying, ‘Oh, won't you do any more?’ she recalled, rather than people saying, ‘Is that still on?’"

Later Work and Private Life

Portraying the homely but astute sleuth in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates brought her continued success on television, but she always called the theatre as "the test."

Long after she ceased appearing regularly on television, Routledge made theatre tours equally in the UK and abroad.

If interviewers asked the inevitable question, she requested them to write the word withdrawal since, she explained: "It's not in my vocabulary."

She did not wed or had kids, but informed the press of two significant affairs in her younger days, including one with a wedded man.

"I felt guilt and an acute sense that there would be loss," she admitted. "I suppose I persuaded myself that it was all right for the time being because his marriage was not a living relationship."

In place of family, she devoted herself to her art, honoring it with the talent, discipline and commitment that were always admired by her peers.

She was critical about the broadcaster's decision in 2016 to bring back Keeping Up Appearances, but on this occasion placed in the 1950s and featuring a more youthful version of her role.

Questioning the Corporation's policy of rebooting classic comedies she said, "Why are they attempting this kind of project, they have to be desperate."

She had already disagreed with the BBC over their decision to not commission a film she had authored about the author Beatrix Potter (Routledge was a supporter of the Beatrix Potter Society), which finally broadcast on another network.

On turning 90, she persisted to reside peacefully in Chichester, where she occupied herself raising funds for the cathedral structure.

In 2017, she was appointed a Dame of the British honors system but—in contrast to Hyacinth—titles did not go to her head.

Dame Patricia always said she credited her Northern upbringing and solid background for providing her good sense with her life and her money.

Nonetheless, she admitted that, should any extra cash come her way, she'd definitely use it on "a case of champagne"—an appreciation of the better things in existence that she had in common with her most famous character.

"I was never theatre-obsessed," she said. "I'm not theatre-obsessed today. Nobody's as amazed than myself that I've, in fact, spent my life pursuing this."