The Princess of Wales at the Cenotaph
Featuring one of Diana's favorite designers.
This morning, as scheduled, Kate appeared on the balcony of the Foreign Office to watch the Remembrance Sunday ceremony. Queen Camilla missed this second event of the weekend, too, so the Princess of Wales was joined only by the Duchess of Edinburgh on her balcony.
Last night, Kate’s coat was ID’d not as a McQueen but as a Catherine Walker piece, and Kate must have been in a Catherine Walker mood, because her Cenotaph coat is another Catherine Walker (lightly altered). Catherine Walker is closely associated with Diana, who wore the designer’s creations often. People described the late designer’s attention to detail for Diana, which helped make her clothes so special:
“As with all our clients who are in the public eye and attend high profile events, we worked very closely with Diana to ensure what she wore was appropriate and she — not the clothes — was the star,” Said Cyrus, Walker’s widow, told PEOPLE. (Walked died of breast cancer in 2010 at age 65.) “My wife and I spent a great deal of time researching what she wore for official visits abroad, even visiting countries in advance to make sure we had it right. We tried to ensure that our designs bridged her ambassadorial role for her own country and also paid respect to each destination.”
Kate has worn this coat twice already. She debuted it on Remembrance Sunday in 2020. (Note the buttons. She replaced these buttons for velvet ones on today’s third wear.)
Kate had the fringe at the shoulders removed when she wore it again in a visit to the Army Training Centre in Pirbright to meet with members of the military who had deployed to the U.K. to take part in Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral. I always remember this fondly, because the visit was televised on Sky, and I did a livestream of it on my Instagram page. The cameraman was moving around a lot trying to keep the Waleses in view as they moved about. I was in my second month of pregnancy, and I was miserably sick. I had to cut the live feed to my Instagram because it was making me dizzy. A number of you told me later that’s when you knew I was pregnant!
Today, in addition to switching out the buttons, Kate added a velvet bow at the neckline, which just makes me smile. She did the same with the Whistles dress she wore on her engagement with William last month. Kate loves a good bow. Her beloved Bayswater clutch from Mulberry was visible on the rail of the balcony.
Kate was wearing the Bahrain diamond and pearl earrings gifted to the late Queen Elizabeth in 1947 by the Hakim of Bahrain as a wedding present. These are familiar earrings, since Kate has worn them often. The Princess was also wearing a brooch with the emblem of 1st the Queen’s Dragoon Guards—she is their Colonel-in-Chief.
Finally, Kate’s hat was by Juliette Botterill Millinery. This was a new hat, but, of course, she has worn this milliner’s designs before.
What a wonderful weekend. As I said in last night’s post, it is a somber weekend, but it is impossible not to celebrate seeing Kate looking so well. I hope we see her before the Christmas Carol Service, but that big-ticket event is on the horizon!