ONE of the region's most famous old families was in mourning yesterday following the death of Lady Bridget Worsley, aged 77.

The wife of Sir Marcus Worsley, former Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, and sister-in-law of the Duchess of Kent, Lady Worsley died surrounded by her family. She is survived by her husband, four children and 11 grandchildren.

"Her integrity, kindness and concern for others will be much missed," said a family spokesman at Hovingham Hall, near Malton, yesterday.

Born Bridget Assheton, she attended the RADA drama academy but left in 1944 to join the Wrens, serving on the Enigma code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park.

After the war, she hitch-hiked through Africa with a friend, interviewing Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian emperor, on the way.

She worked as social secretary to the ambassador for Brussels before marrying in 1955. She and her husband moved to Hovingham Hall on the death of Sir Marcus's father in 1973.

Lady Worsley was a governor of a local school, district commissioner for the Girl Guides and a past president of the North of England Horticultural Society.

The funeral will be held next Tuesday, at 2.30pm, at All Saints' Church, Hovingham.