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Lady Patricia Routledge, who has died at the years of 96, made her mark on the national consciousness as the snobby Hyacinth Bouquet.

Declaring it was "said Bouquet," Hyacinth ran roughshod over her patient husband and confused neighbours in the popular sitcom, among Britain's most successful sitcoms in the 1990s.

Acting like a aristocrat while living in a suburb, Bucket's over-the-top social-climbing schemes were in the end doomed to failure—while she battled to keep her dignity.

It was Lady Routledge's best-known role in a career that saw her earn theatrical awards on both sides of the ocean, become the lead of Alan Bennett's celebrated TV monologues, and star as BBC1's crime-busting Mrs. Wainthropp.

Formative Years and Career Beginnings

Katherine Patricia Routledge was born in Merseyside on 17 February 1929.

Her dad was a haberdasher 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 teach. Instead, she entered the local theatre prior to training at the Bristol Old Vic.

Her successful acting career brought her from the provinces to the West End, and finally to New York, where the composer selected her to appear in his stage production 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.

She had previously won a Tony honor for her acting in Darling of the Day.

She could transition smoothly from comedies to classics.

She progressed from Stratford-upon-Avon, performing with the RSC and later to the London's national stage in the capital.

At the National, her starring role in the theatre production Carousel involved her performing the rousing You'll Never Walk Alone.

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

Her theatre and broadcast performances proved her range and earned her awards, but it was the small screen that provided Routledge with her most high profile characters.

TV Breakthrough and Iconic Characters

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

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

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

She went onto play a lonely, mid-life department store assistant drawn into a relationship with a unconventional podiatrist in Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.

A comic turn as the exaggerated Kitty on The Victoria Wood Show resulted in the development of Hyacinth Bouquet.

Routledge remembered being given 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 moment at 1 a.m. in the night," she recalled, "I read straight through and Hyacinth leapt off the script. I recognized that woman, I knew several of that type."

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

In a documentary, she stated that admirers had included Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and Pope Benedict XVI.

It turned into the broadcaster's most exported programme of all time and meant Routledge was recognised as distant as Africa.

For her performance on the comedy, she was chosen the UK's all-time best-loved actor in 1996, but following half a decade in the role, she decided it was the moment for a new direction.

"I decided to end it to an end," she explained, "which, naturally, the broadcaster didn’t care for very much."

She believed that Roy Clarke was starting to recycle ideas and mentioned a piece of advice from the performer, Ronnie Barker.

"He made sure to finish with audiences asking, ‘Oh, won't you do any more?’ she recalled, rather than fans remarking, ‘Is that still running?’"

Subsequent Roles and Personal Life

Playing the unassuming but sharp sleuth in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates brought her continued popularity on TV, but she always referred to the stage as "the test."

Years after she stopped acting frequently on television, Routledge undertook stage travels equally in the UK and abroad.

Whenever interviewers posed the inevitable question, she asked them to write the word withdrawal since, she clarified: "It's not in my lexicon."

She did not wed or raised children, but informed interviewers of two great romances in her youth, one with a married man.

"I felt remorse and an acute feeling that there would be loss," she admitted. "I guess I convinced myself that it was all right for the moment as his union was not a vibrant thing."

In place of family, she dedicated herself to her art, honoring it with the talent, dedication and devotion that were consistently admired by her peers.

She was critical about the broadcaster's choice in 2016 to revive Keeping Up Appearances, but this time set in the 1950s and starring a younger version of her character.

Questioning the network's policy of resurrecting classic sitcoms she said, "Why are they attempting this kind of project, they must be out of ideas."

She had already clashed with the BBC over their decision to not order a documentary she had authored about the writer Beatrix Potter (she was a supporter of the Beatrix Potter Society), which finally aired on Channel 4.

Upon reaching 90, she continued to reside quietly in Chichester, where she busied herself collecting funds for the church structure.

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

Lady Routledge often stated she credited her north of England upbringing and solid family for providing her practicality with her time and her money.

Nonetheless, she confessed that, if any additional cash arrive, she'd definitely spend it on "a case of sparkling wine"—an appreciation of the better pleasures in life that she had in common with her best-remembered character.

"I never was stage-struck," she said. "I am not stage-struck today. No one is more surprised than myself that I've, actually, spent my career doing this."