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Lady Patricia Routledge, who has died at the age of 96, made her mark on the national consciousness as the pretentious Hyacinth Bucket.

Declaring it was "pronounced Bouquet," Hyacinth trampled over her patient husband and confused neighbours in the popular sitcom, among Britain's best-loved sitcoms in the 1990s.

Behaving like a aristocrat while residing in a suburban area, Hyacinth's monstrous status-seeking schemes were ultimately doomed to failure—while she struggled to keep her dignity.

It was Lady Patricia's best-known role in a professional life that included her win stage honors on each side of the Atlantic, become the lead of the playwright's celebrated TV soliloquies, and become BBC1's investigative Mrs. Wainthropp.

Early Years and Start in Acting

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

Her dad was a haberdasher and she later recalled sheltering from German air raids in the cellar of his store during the Second World War.

She studied literature at local the University of Liverpool and planned to become a teacher. Rather, she entered the Liverpool Playhouse before training at the Bristol drama school.

Her prosperous stage journey brought her from the provinces to the London theatre district, and finally to Broadway, where Leonard Bernstein chose her to appear in his musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.

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

She could transition effortlessly from comedies to serious drama.

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

There, her starring role in the stage musical 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 stage and radio performances proved her range and won her awards, but it was the small screen that provided Routledge with her best-known roles.

TV Breakthrough and Iconic Roles

Initial small-screen work featured popular shows like Z Cars and Steptoe and Son.

Subsequently, among Britain's most respected writers, Alan Bennett, penned a set of outstanding Talking Heads TV monologues for her.

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

She went onto play a isolated, mid-life department store clerk tipped into a affair with a kinky podiatrist in Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.

A humorous turn as the larger-than-life Kitty on The Victoria Wood Show led to the development of Mrs. Bouquet.

Routledge recalled being sent the episodes by the author, Roy Clarke—who had also done Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours.

"I had opened the pages for a while at one o'clock in the morning," she said, "I read straight through and Hyacinth jumped off the script. I knew that woman, I'd met several of that woman."

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

In a film, she stated that admirers had included Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and the pontiff.

It became BBC Worldwide's most-sold show ever and ensured Routledge was known as distant as Botswana.

For her performance on the sitcom, she was chosen the UK's all-time best-loved actor in 1996, but after half a decade in the part, she decided it was the moment for a change.

"I decided to end it to an end," she said, "and, of course, the broadcaster wasn't pleased with at all."

She believed that the writer was starting to repeat concepts and mentioned a bit of advice from the performer, the comic.

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

Later Roles and Personal Reflections

Portraying the homely but sharp detective in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates brought her continued success on TV, but she always referred to the stage as "the test."

Years after she ceased acting regularly on screen, Routledge made stage travels equally in the United Kingdom and abroad.

If journalists posed the inevitable inquiry, she requested them to write the word withdrawal because, she explained: "It isn't in my vocabulary."

She did not married or raised kids, but told the press of a couple of significant affairs in her younger days, including one with a wedded man.

"I experienced remorse and an sharp feeling that there had to be loss," she admitted. "I guess I convinced myself that it was acceptable for the time being because his marriage was not a vibrant relationship."

Instead, she devoted herself to her craft, serving it with the talent, dedication and devotion that were always admired by her colleagues.

She was scathing about the broadcaster's decision in 2016 to revive Keeping Up Appearances, but this time placed in the 1950s and starring a more youthful incarnation of her role.

Questioning the network's policy of rebooting old sitcoms she remarked, "Why are they attempting this sort of project, they have to be out of ideas."

She had already disagreed with the broadcaster over its move not to commission a documentary she had authored about the writer Beatrix Potter (she was a Patron of the literary group), which finally aired on Channel 4.

Upon reaching 90, she persisted to live peacefully in Chichester, where she occupied herself collecting funds for the church 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 Routledge often said she thanked her north of England upbringing and solid family for giving her practicality with her life and her money.

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

"I never was theatre-obsessed," she said. "I'm not stage-struck now. Nobody's more surprised than I am that I have, in fact, spent my career doing this."