Kate's Away Day in Wales

January 30, 2025

As Kate slowly eases back into public engagements, I will occasionally pre-empt a Monday Memory in favor of a recent Kate outing. Today, we are looking back to just this last Thursday, January 30th. The Princess of Wales surprised us all when she flew by helicopter to Wales for her first Away Day since her year out of the public eye.

Kate made two stops. The first was a visit to Tŷ Hafan, a children’s hospice in Sully, South Wales. As Kate slowly returns to public life, her early visits seem like they will hold a lot of meaning. Kate has been deeply involved in children’s hospices from the start of her royal career, so it seemed very fitting for her to highlight children’s hospices with this stop.

Later in the day, she visited Corgi—a knitwear brand—and toured the company’s factory. According to the brand’s website, its founder “began producing thigh-high woollen socks for local coal miners in 1892.” Since then, the company has branched out to all manner of socks and knitwear. The company boasts a royal warrant, first awarded in 1989 by the then-Prince of Wales. The company has been granted a warrant by Charles as king, and they will be updating it once that warrant issues later this year.

I wonder if Kate will wear one of the brand’s sweaters at some point this year? The Princess loves a good wool sweater, and has strongly favored Really Wild and Holland Cooper sweaters of late.

For her Away Day in Wales, Kate recycled tip to toe. She was wearing a Zara checked dress she has worn three other times, and the Chris Kerr (Saville Road tailor) bespoke coat she wore to Together at Christmas in 2023. She was wearing Russell & Bromley heels and Spells of Love earrings.

There was a video from a fan that showed Kate jog over to greet some people who had gathered to wave to her (below a video from a different angle). In it, you could hear her friendly, confident voice and laughter.

Her first few outings in 2025 have been pretty tightly controlled, so this natural moment with the crowds—such a familiar thing in the past—was very exciting. These two engagements really felt like the engagements pre-2024, and that feels so good.

The Palace, always skittish that, if given an inch, the public will take a mile, stressed to royal reporters that this busier schedule in the last week should not be taken as a template for the future. Nevertheless, I consider it a very positive sign indeed.