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Lady Pat Routledge, who has died at the years of 96, etched her presence on the national psyche as the snobby Mrs. Bucket.

Declaring it was "pronounced Bouquet," Hyacinth ran roughshod over her long-suffering husband and confused neighbours in Keeping Up Appearances, one of Britain's best-loved sitcoms in the 1990s.

Behaving like a duchess while residing in a suburb, Hyacinth's monstrous social-climbing schemes were ultimately destined to collapse—while she battled to maintain her dignity.

It was Dame Routledge's best-known part in a professional life that saw her earn stage awards on each side of the Atlantic, become the star of the playwright's celebrated TV monologues, and become BBC1's crime-busting Mrs. Wainthropp.

Formative Years and Start in Acting

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

Her father was a clothier and she later recalled sheltering from German air raids in the cellar of his store throughout the war.

She studied literature at local Liverpool University and planned to become a teacher. Instead, she joined the local theatre prior to studying at the Bristol drama school.

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

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

She could transition effortlessly from comedies to classics.

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

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

She also took various minor movie parts, especially in 1967's To Sir, With Love, and the Jerry Lewis comedy outing Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.

Her stage and radio work proved her versatility and won her awards, but it was the small screen that provided Routledge with her most high profile characters.

TV Success and Iconic Characters

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

Subsequently, among Britain's esteemed playwrights, the dramatist, penned a set of remarkable Talking Heads TV monologues for her.

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

She later portray a isolated, middle-aged department store assistant drawn into a affair 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 Bucket.

Routledge remembered being given the scripts by the writer, the screenwriter—known for Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours.

"I had opened the script for a while at 1 a.m. in the morning," she said, "I went straight through and the character leapt off the page. I knew that lady, I knew several of that type."

Keeping Up Appearances ran for five series and included four Christmas specials.

In a documentary, she later claimed that admirers had included the royal family and the pontiff.

It turned into BBC Worldwide's most-sold programme ever and meant Routledge was recognised as far away as Botswana.

For her performance on the comedy, she was chosen Britain's all-time favourite actress in 1996, but after five years in the role, she decided it was time for a change.

"I brought it to an close," she said, "and, of course, the BBC didn’t care for very much."

She believed that Roy Clarke was beginning to recycle concepts and recalled a piece of guidance from the comedian, Ronnie Barker.

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

Later Work and Private Life

Playing the unassuming but astute sleuth in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates gave her continued success on TV, but she consistently referred to the stage as "the real challenge."

Years after she ceased appearing regularly on television, Routledge made theatre tours both in the United Kingdom and abroad.

Whenever interviewers posed the predictable question, she asked them to spell out the word withdrawal because, she explained: "It's not in my lexicon."

She never wed or raised kids, but informed interviewers of a couple of significant romances in her youth, including one with a wedded man.

"I experienced guilt and an sharp feeling that there would be loss," she admitted. "I suppose I persuaded myself that it was all right for the moment because his union was no a living thing."

In place of family, she devoted herself to her craft, serving it with the skill, discipline and commitment that were always admired by her colleagues.

She was critical about the broadcaster's choice in 2016 to bring back Keeping Up Appearances, but on this occasion set in the 1950s and starring a more youthful version of her role.

Questioning the Corporation's approach of rebooting old comedies she said, "For what reason are they attempting this sort of project, they must be out of ideas."

She had previously disagreed with the broadcaster over its move to not commission a documentary she had authored about the writer Beatrix Potter (Routledge was a Patron of the literary group), which eventually aired on another network.

Upon reaching 90, she continued to live peacefully in the city, where she occupied herself raising funds for the church structure.

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

Lady Routledge often stated she thanked her Northern roots and solid family for providing her practicality with her life and her finances.

Even so, she confessed that, should any extra cash arrive, she'd certainly use it on "a case of champagne"—an love of the finer pleasures in life that she had in common with her most famous creation.

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