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Lady Pat Routledge, who has died at the age of 96, imprinted herself on the national consciousness as the snobby Hyacinth Bucket.

Insisting it was "pronounced Bouquet," Hyacinth trampled over her long-suffering husband and confused neighbours in the popular sitcom, among Britain's most successful sitcoms in the 1990s.

Behaving like a duchess while living in a suburban area, Hyacinth's monstrous status-seeking plans were ultimately doomed to collapse—while she battled to keep her dignity.

It was Lady Patricia's most famous part in a career that saw her earn stage honors on both sides of the ocean, emerge as the star of Alan Bennett's celebrated TV monologues, and become BBC1's crime-busting Hetty Wainthropp.

Formative Years and Career Beginnings

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

Her dad was a clothier and she later recalled sheltering from enemy bombs in the cellar of his store throughout the Second World War.

She majored in English at local Liverpool University and intended to become a teacher. Instead, she entered the Liverpool Playhouse before training at the Bristol drama school.

Her successful stage career brought her from the regions to the West End, and finally to Broadway, where Leonard Bernstein selected her to star in his musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.

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

She could transition smoothly from lighthearted plays to serious drama.

She went from Shakespeare's birthplace, performing with the RSC and then to the London's national stage in London.

There, her lead role in the theatre production Carousel featured her performing the rousing You'll Never Walk Alone.

She also took several supporting film roles, especially in 1967's To Sir, With Love, and the Jerry Lewis funny film Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.

Her theatre and broadcast work demonstrated her versatility and earned her accolades, but it was television that provided Routledge with her best-known roles.

Television Success and Memorable Characters

Early small-screen work included popular shows like Z Cars and Steptoe and Son.

Subsequently, one of Britain's esteemed writers, Alan Bennett, penned a set of remarkable Talking Heads TV monologues for her.

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

She later portray a isolated, mid-life department store 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 remembered being sent the scripts by the writer, Roy Clarke—known for 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 page. I knew that lady, I knew a few of that woman."

Keeping Up Appearances aired for five series and featured four holiday episodes.

In a film, she later claimed that fans had included the royal family and Pope Benedict XVI.

It turned into the broadcaster's most exported programme ever and ensured Routledge was known as far away as Africa.

For her performance on the sitcom, she was voted Britain's all-time best-loved actress in 1996, but following half a decade in the part, she felt it was the moment for a change.

"I brought it to an end," she said, "which, naturally, the broadcaster wasn't pleased with at all."

She believed that Roy Clarke was starting to recycle concepts and recalled a bit of guidance from the performer, the comic.

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

Subsequent Work and Personal Life

Portraying the homely but sharp sleuth in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates gave her ongoing success on television, but she always referred to the theatre as "the real challenge."

Long after she ceased appearing frequently on screen, Routledge undertook stage travels both in the UK and overseas.

Whenever interviewers posed the inevitable inquiry, she asked them to write the word retirement since, she explained: "It isn't in my vocabulary."

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

"I felt remorse and an acute feeling that there had to be pain," she confessed. "I guess I persuaded myself that it was all right for the moment as his marriage was no a vibrant relationship."

Instead, she dedicated herself to her craft, serving it with the skill, dedication and devotion that were always respected by her colleagues.

She was scathing about the broadcaster's decision in 2016 to revive Keeping Up Appearances, but on this occasion set in the 1950s and starring a more youthful version of her character.

Challenging the network's policy of rebooting old sitcoms she remarked, "For what reason are they doing this kind of project, they have to be desperate."

She had previously clashed with the broadcaster over its move not to order a documentary she had written about the author Beatrix Potter (she was a Patron of the Beatrix Potter Society), which eventually broadcast on another network.

Upon reaching 90, she persisted to reside quietly in Chichester, where she busied herself raising funds for the cathedral structure.

In 2017, she became a Dame Commander of the British honors system but—unlike her character—titles never affect her head.

Dame Patricia always stated she credited her north of England roots and solid family for providing her good sense with her life and her money.

Nonetheless, she confessed that, should any additional 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 never was stage-struck," she said. "I'm not theatre-obsessed now. Nobody's more surprised than myself that I have, actually, devoted my career pursuing this."