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Dame Pat Routledge, who passed away at the age of 96, made her mark on the British consciousness as the pretentious Mrs. Bouquet.

Declaring it was "pronounced Bouquet," Hyacinth ran roughshod over her long-suffering husband and bewildered neighbours in the popular sitcom, among Britain's most successful comedies in the 1990s.

Acting like a duchess while residing in a suburb, Hyacinth's monstrous status-seeking schemes were in the end destined to failure—while she struggled to maintain her dignity.

It was Dame Routledge's most famous role in a career that saw her earn theatrical awards on each side of the Atlantic, emerge as the star of the playwright's famous TV soliloquies, and star as BBC1's crime-busting Mrs. Wainthropp.

Early Years and Career Beginnings

Catherine Patricia Routledge was born in Birkenhead on 17 February 1929.

Her father was a haberdasher and she later recalled sheltering from enemy bombs in the basement of his store throughout the Second World War.

She majored in literature at local the University of Liverpool and intended to become a teacher. Rather, she entered the local theatre before training at the Bristol Old Vic.

Her successful stage journey took her from the provinces to the West End, and finally to Broadway, where the composer selected her to star in his musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.

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

She could move smoothly from comedies to serious drama.

She went from Shakespeare's birthplace, appearing with the RSC and then to the National Theatre in London.

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

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

Her stage and radio work proved her versatility and won her awards, but it was television that provided Routledge with her most high profile roles.

Television Breakthrough and Memorable Characters

Early small-screen appearances featured popular shows like Z Cars and Steptoe and Son.

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

Routledge overcame her initial hesitation to act his material and excelled as A Woman of No Importance and A Lady of Letters.

She later play a lonely, mid-life shop clerk tipped into a affair with a kinky foot doctor in Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.

A humorous turn as the larger-than-life Kitty on The Victoria Wood Show resulted in the creation of Hyacinth Bucket.

Routledge recalled being sent the scripts by the author, the screenwriter—known for Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours.

"I opened the pages for a while at 1 a.m. in the night," she said, "I read straight through and Hyacinth jumped off the page. I knew that lady, I'd met several of that type."

Keeping Up Appearances aired for five seasons and featured four holiday specials.

In a documentary, she later claimed that admirers had numbered the royal family and Pope Benedict XVI.

It became the broadcaster's most exported show of all time and ensured Routledge was recognised as far away as Botswana.

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

"I brought it to an close," she explained, "and, of course, the BBC didn’t care for very much."

She believed that Roy Clarke was beginning to recycle concepts and recalled a piece of advice from the comedian, Ronnie Barker.

"He made sure to finish with people asking, ‘Oh, aren’t you doing any more?’ she recalled, instead of people saying, ‘Is that still running?’"

Later Roles and Personal Reflections

Playing the unassuming but sharp sleuth in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates gave her continued success on TV, but she consistently referred to the stage as "the test."

Long after she stopped acting regularly on screen, Routledge made theatre tours equally in the United Kingdom and overseas.

If interviewers asked the inevitable inquiry, she asked them to spell out the word withdrawal because, she clarified: "It's not in my vocabulary."

She did not married or had children, but told the press of a couple of significant affairs in her youth, one with a married man.

"I felt remorse and an acute sense that there would be pain," she confessed. "I guess I convinced myself that it was acceptable for the time being because his union was no a living thing."

In place of family, she devoted herself to her craft, honoring it with the skill, dedication and devotion that were consistently respected by her peers.

She was scathing about the broadcaster's choice in 2016 to bring back Keeping Up Appearances, but this time placed in the 1950s and featuring a younger incarnation of her character.

Challenging the network's policy of resurrecting classic comedies she said, "Why are they doing this sort of project, they have to be out of ideas."

She had already clashed with the broadcaster over their decision to not order a documentary she had authored about the author the children's author (Routledge was a Patron of the literary group), which eventually broadcast on another network.

Upon reaching 90, she continued to reside quietly in the city, where she occupied herself raising funds for the church roof.

In 2017, she became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire but—unlike her character—titles never go to her mind.

Lady Patricia always stated she thanked her north of England upbringing and stable family for providing her practicality with her life and her money.

Even so, she admitted that, should any extra money arrive, she'd certainly use it on "a case of sparkling wine"—an appreciation of the better pleasures in life that she shared with her best-remembered creation.

"I never was theatre-obsessed," she said. "I'm not stage-struck today. No one is more surprised than I am that I've, in fact, devoted my life pursuing this."