He served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.
In the Senate, he was majority leader and chairman of the Appropriations committee, and he advocated for mental health and blindness prevention.
The state-supported Kenneth C. Royall Jr. Children's Vision Screening Improvement Program is named in his honor.
[1] He was key to the formation of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics and to the Royall Center for the Arts, both in Durham.
[2][3] Kenneth Royall's wife, Julia, died in Durham, North Carolina on November 30, 1995, at age 71.