Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester is expected to arrive in Bermuda sometime in mid-March, according to the Governor's aide-de-camp Captain Derek Hurdle.

The Duchess, a patron of the Scottish Opera, will be arriving with the Opera to witness some workshops they will be running within some of the primary and middle schools, said Capt. Hurdle. "She is looking at attending a couple of the workshops," he added.

The Opera will be giving two public performances while in Bermuda: one on March 14 at the Ruth Seaton James auditorium, and one black tie dinner at the Hamilton Princess, to which the Duchess herself will attend.

The Duchess also had the opportunity to visit one charity while she was in Bermuda, and she chose the Patients Assistance League Service (PALS). "We're very, very proud and pleased it's PALS," said PALS head Anne Smith-Gordon.

"It's not a long visit," said Capt. Hurdle, who was not allowed to reveal the exact date of the Duchess's visit. He did however say she would be staying at Government House. "(The visit) is for maybe four days. The main thing is the opera, but she did want to visit one of the charities as well."

The Duchess of Gloucester, formerly Birgitte Eva van Deurs, was born on June 20, 1946, in Odense, Denmark. It was at Cambridge that she met the Duke of Gloucester (Prince Richard of Gloucester), who was an undergraduate at the time.

The Duke of Gloucester is a first cousin of the Sovereign.

Completing a three-year diploma course in Commercial and Economic Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Duchess returned to England in 1971 to work at the Royal Danish Embassy. In February of 1972 her engagement to Richard of Gloucester was announced.

The couple married on July 8, 1972, at St. Andrew's Church in Northamptonshire. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester live at Kensington Palace and have three children: Alexander, Earl of Ulster (born in 1974), the Lady Davina Windsor (born in 1977), and the Lady Rose Windsor (born in 1980). None of the children have official royal duties.

The Duchess is a patron of a large number of organisations, many of which have medical connections. Other organisations she is connected with have welfare or educational emphasis, and she is also president or patron of many with emphasis on sport, art and music, such as the Scottish Opera.