Kate, Princess of Wales, looked splendid and imposing at King’s coronation without saying a word

The Princess of Wales looked splendid and imposing, without overshadowing the main players in this coronation, King Charles, Queen Camilla and her own husband Prince William.

Princess Kate at Westminster Abbey. Picture: Getty Images

Kate didn’t say anything but in doing so said everything.

The Princess of Wales looked splendid and imposing in an ivory silk crepe Alexander McQueen dress and silver bullion headdress worn under a formal robe, without overshadowing the main players in this coronation, King Charles, Queen Camilla and her own husband, Prince William.

But deep in thought, Kate may have been thinking that in the next two decades she will be there on the throne, wearing a crown, being anointed and before the world declared queen, just as Camilla was.

There was a homage to the woman who never became queen, the late Princess Diana, as Kate wore her husband’s mother’s pearl and diamond earrings.

And the future queen paid tribute to Elizabeth II with the George VI Festoon Necklace, which the wartime king had made for the then princess to wear in 1950.

During the coronation, Kate had every right to feel relieved and, yes, a touch smug, for the headline pot shots from across the Atlantic from her sister-in-law were in the past. The “waity-Katy” slurs had long passed. Here was a poised, confident, glossy, smiling Kate. For the first time in five years, she could relax, not having to be compared to Meghan Markle, not having to worry about saying anything lest it appear in a podcast, a book or a TV series.

Kate embodies the future of the monarchy, and she, ever reliable, pulled it off yet again with a quiet deference to the monarchy’s quirks and traditions.

No wonder the former school hockey captain is the most popular royal among the public. Her schoolfriends at Marlborough College had picked it early, voting her “the person most likely to be loved by everybody” in the 2000 school yearbook. She had the polished outfit, the perfect headdress and, bringing her ever closer to every mother watching, she controlled her delightful five-year-old Prince Louis, as ever, squirming in his chair, while daughter Princess Charlotte, 8, was entertained with the program.

And son George, there he was dressed in the breeches and frills of the pageboys, being schooled in 1000 years of occasion and convention, as he handled the coronation robes of his grandfather. The family would later leave the abbey in the Australian state coach – a signal of their commitment to the Commonwealth and a long-planned trip for the Wales family Down Under.

And where was Meghan on this auspicious occasion? She had decided to stay in Montecito organising her son’s fourth birthday party. Kate, 41, has grown into the royal position, feeling more relaxed on her walkabouts, so much so last week she left a toddler playing with her handbag while she continued chatting to locals in Wales. On coronation eve, she lingered with wellwishers on The Mall, relaying how excited, and slightly nervous her children were for the big day.