There were plenty of royal rules that Kate adhered to at the coronation today. Here, we break down her regal outfit. Image credits: Getty Images
The dress code for King Charles III’s coronation might have been “standard business attire”, but don’t let the simplicity of the task fool you. Wrapped up in the request are an array of official and unofficial style rules that members of the royal family must follow, from modest necklines and hemlines, to pale manicures and millinery, only to be worn in the daytime, before 6pm.
Image credit: The Royal Family
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You might recall the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II last September, which came with its own sartorial stipulations. Along with wearing all-black, senior royals including Kate, Princess of Wales and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, honoured custom by accessorising with pearls—colourless gems that have been associated with mourning since the death of Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. Kate’s necklace, a four-row Japanese pearl choker by Garrard, was thus doubly meaningful, both a nod to Victorian tradition and the legacy of her late grandmother-in-law and her husband, Prince Philip; before wearing the same necklace at Philip’s funeral in 2021, Kate had sported the choker at the Queen and Philip’s wedding anniversary in 2017.
Princess Kate and Princess Charlotte at the coronation.
The event of King Charles’s coronation today, then, demanded a similar aptitude from Kate, who rose to the occasion with deftness. The Princess of Wales wore an ivory Alexander McQueen silk crepe gown, embroidered with the national flora of the United Kingdom: roses for England, thistles for Scotland, daffodils for Wales and shamrocks for Ireland. A floor-length dress, arguably, was always going to be the most likely option for Kate, who has adhered firmly to demure hemlines since embracing her role as the Princess of Wales and next-in-line as queen consort. She accessorised with pointed white court shoes underneath her sweeping dress, and coordinated with her daughter, Princess Charlotte, who wore a matching Alexander McQueen piece.
With her brown hair swept up in a chignon, Kate was able to put her pearl-and-diamond earrings on full display: a precious pair of drops that once belonged to Princess Diana. All royals wear jewellery from the crown’s collection of heirlooms, also called the royal vault. In this, Kate is no different. However, she often chooses to sport jewellery passed down from her most direct predecessors or relatives, specifically Diana and the late Queen Elizabeth II, her grandmother-in-law. Elizabeth, therefore, was present today in Kate’s necklace: the three-strand diamond George VI Festoon Necklace, commissioned in 1950 by King George VI for a then-Princess Elizabeth, and worn by the Queen throughout the entirety of her reign.
Princess Kate and Prince William at the coronation.
There was also much speculation about whether Kate would attend the ceremony with or without a tiara. Though tiaras have been traditionally worn at coronations by royal women throughout British history—tiaras can only be worn by married women, and are thus seen at weddings and more formal or ceremonial events, like State Banquets—Charles’s decision to pare back his own ceremony left commentators uncertain about whether senior royals like Kate, Sophie, Beatrice and Eugenie would choose jewelled headpieces, like those worn at their weddings.
Princess Kate, Prince William, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis at the coronation.
While Kate did not wear a tiara for the coronation in the end, she did wear a headpiece. Her embroidered, silver circlet of leaves, also by Alexander McQueen, was a reference both to Charles’s love of nature, and the Green Man, a figure from British folklore included in the official coronation invitation and symbol of spring, growth and rebirth. The Green Man himself wore a crown of oak, ivy and flowers; observers could take Kate’s floral headpiece, therefore, as an ushering in: of a new reign, a new king, and a new era of the monarchy.
Princess Kate and Prince William at the coronation.
Of course, there was also Kate’s formal robe. She wore a rich blue Royal Victorian Order mantle, trimmed in scarlet over her gown—her uniform as a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. Here, Kate joined the cavalcade of senior royals and peerage arriving at the coronation in cloaks reflecting their proper titles. Charles had initially discouraged members of the aristocracy from wearing robes and coronets in favour of “standard business attire”, but that rule was altered just before the ceremony began.
Princess Kate and Prince William at the coronation.
In her Alexander McQueen gown, crown jewels, robe and silver headpiece, Kate put not a single sartorial foot wrong. It’s a mastery of fashion we’ve come to expect from the Princess of Wales; as the wife of Prince William, currently first in the line of succession, Kate has embraced her responsibility as a future queen of England, and is dressing for the part.
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