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Lady Pat Routledge, who passed away at the years of 96, made her mark on the national psyche as the pretentious Hyacinth Bouquet.

Declaring it was "pronounced Bouquet," the character trampled over her long-suffering husband and confused neighbours in Keeping Up Appearances, one of Britain's most successful sitcoms in the 1990s.

Acting like a aristocrat while residing in a suburb, Bucket's over-the-top status-seeking schemes were in the end destined to collapse—while she battled to maintain her dignity.

It was Lady Routledge's most famous role in a career that saw her earn stage honors on each side of the ocean, become the lead of Alan Bennett's famous TV soliloquies, and become BBC1's crime-busting Hetty Wainthropp.

Early Years and Start in Acting

Catherine Pat Routledge was delivered in Birkenhead on February 17 1929.

Her father was a clothier and she later recalled sheltering from enemy air raids in the cellar of his shop throughout the Second World War.

She studied literature at local Liverpool University and planned to teach. Instead, she joined the Liverpool Playhouse before training at the Bristol drama school.

Her successful stage journey brought her from the provinces to the West End, and eventually to New York, where Leonard Bernstein selected her to star in his musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.

She had already won a Tony award for her performance in Darling of the Day.

She could move smoothly from lighthearted plays to serious drama.

She progressed from Shakespeare's birthplace, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and later to the London's national stage in London.

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

There were also various supporting film roles, especially in the 1967 film To Sir, With Love, and the comedian's funny film Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.

Her theatre and broadcast work proved her versatility and won her awards, but it was the small screen that provided Routledge with her most high profile characters.

Television Breakthrough and Iconic Characters

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

Subsequently, among Britain's esteemed writers, Alan Bennett, wrote a series of outstanding Talking Heads TV monologues for her.

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

She later portray a lonely, middle-aged shop clerk drawn 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 Hyacinth Bouquet.

Routledge recalled being given the episodes by the writer, Roy Clarke—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 night," she recalled, "I went straight through and Hyacinth jumped off the page. I knew that woman, I knew a few of that woman."

Keeping Up Appearances ran for five series and included four Christmas specials.

In a documentary, she stated that fans had numbered the royal family and Pope Benedict XVI.

It turned into BBC Worldwide's most exported show of all time and ensured Routledge was recognised as distant as Botswana.

For her work on the comedy, she was chosen Britain's all-time best-loved actress in 1996, but following half a decade in the role, she felt it was the moment for a new direction.

"I decided to end it to an close," she said, "and, naturally, the broadcaster wasn't pleased with very much."

She thought that Roy Clarke was beginning to repeat ideas and mentioned a bit of advice from the comedian, the comic.

"He always left with people asking, ‘Oh, aren’t you doing any more?’ she recalled, rather than fans remarking, ‘Is that still on?’"

Later Work and Private Life

Portraying the unassuming but astute detective in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates gave her ongoing success on television, but she consistently referred to the stage as "the test."

Years after she stopped acting regularly on screen, Routledge made theatre tours both in the UK and overseas.

Whenever journalists asked the inevitable question, she requested them to write the word withdrawal since, she explained: "It isn't in my vocabulary."

She did not wed or had children, but told interviewers of a couple of great affairs in her younger days, one with a married man.

"I felt guilt and an sharp feeling that there had to be loss," she confessed. "I guess I persuaded myself that it was all right for the moment because his marriage was not a living relationship."

In place of family, she dedicated herself to her art, serving it with the skill, dedication and commitment that were always admired by her peers.

She was critical about the BBC's choice in 2016 to revive Keeping Up Appearances, but on this occasion placed in the 1950s and featuring a younger incarnation of her character.

Challenging the Corporation's approach of resurrecting classic comedies she remarked, "Why are they attempting this sort of project, they have to be out of ideas."

She had previously clashed with the BBC over its decision not to commission a film she had written about the writer Beatrix Potter (she was a supporter of the Beatrix Potter Society), which eventually aired on Channel 4.

Upon reaching 90, she persisted to reside peacefully in the city, where she occupied herself collecting money for the cathedral structure.

In 2017, she became a Dame of the British honors system but—unlike her character—honors did not affect her mind.

Lady Patricia often stated she thanked her Northern roots and stable background for providing her good sense with her life and her money.

Even so, she admitted that, should any extra money arrive, she'd definitely use it on "a case of champagne"—an love of the finer pleasures in existence that she shared with her most famous creation.

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