Pic confirms major Princess Kate post-cancer change

The Princess of Wales has attended her first Buckingham Palace garden party in two years and one decision on the day tells us something huge.

OPINION

Stop the presses, hold the phones, someone find the internet pause button and whack it hard. Has Kate, The Princess of Wales just … had a sly jibe at the expense Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex? Or sent them some sort of shockingly conciliatory smoke signal? Or just randomly pulled a hat out of her vast millinery humidor at home and grabbed the first thing she spied?

On May 20, Kate attended her first Buckingham Palace garden party in two years, done up in the most on-trend colour of butter yellow, rewearing an Emilia Wickstead dress from 2022 – and, drum roll please, the very same hat she wore pretty much seven years ago exactly to the day for the May 19 of the Sussexes.

Kate Kremlinologists, assemble!

At another time, this interessent choice of hat could and would have made a much bigger deal except that it comes months after Kate quietly ushered in a major change to the way she gets dressed. New pieces? Lovely buys? Fresh bits and bobs?

By and large it’s a no from the princess. Of the 18 times she has undertaken public duties this year, she has reworn old looks on 12 of them.

Or to put another way, two thirds of what we have seen her in have been rewears.

Cor. We know King Charles is well into recycling and composting and reducing waste but in 2025, as the princess slowly returns to work after her horrible run-in with cancer, she is taking that ethos to an extreme new level.

Catherine, Princess of Wales before the start of a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on May 20, 2025 in London, England. Picture: Aaron Chown - WPA Pool/Getty Images

An accident? Budget cutbacks? No sirree. Kate is up to something, I’d wager.

Times past, back when the closest thing the royal family came to cancer was when they visited a charity bucking up those being treated for the ‘orrid disease, the princess’ wardrobe followed a very predictable path. Big state occasions like your Trooping the Colours and State dinners generally involved a nice new bit of finery or something shiny while her day-to-day masses-meeting engagements saw her combine new pieces and trusty already in rotation items.

Sure, on occasion, she tried new styles, she even took the occasional foray down an unexpected path like experimenting by wearing a Gucci shirt back to front, but generally she relied on pieces from tried and true British bands, with pieces from high street brands like Sezanne mixed in.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visits the Henry Fawcett Children's Centre in London on March 12, 2019 in a Gucci shirt. Picture: Arthur Edwards/POOL/AFP

The Duchess visited the Henry Fawcett Children’s Centre to learn more about the work being done by local organisations. Picture: Arthur Edwards/POOL/AFP

Along the way there were certain pieces that got trotted out with rinse and repeat regularity, like her houndstooth Zara dress that has a distinct 80s Dynasty secretary-about-to-take-down-some-shorthand vibe.

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge in Bradford on January 15, 2020. Picture: Charlotte Graham/POOL/AFP

Princess Kate then visited a restaurant in Bradford. Picture: Chris Jackson/POOL/AFP

Kate pictured in Wales on April 28, 2023. Picture: Ben Birchall – WPA Pool/Getty Images

Then, in 2025, on a visit to Corgi. Picture: Rebecca Naden/POOL/AFP

Then 2024 rolled around and the intrusion of the ‘C’ word into her life and it has only been this that she has started to, gradually, return to something a more normal royal pace. While many of the outings look the same – bucking up Scottish industry, playing with babies, getting some dirt on her boots in aid of the Scouts – how she has gotten dressed for them has changed.

By and large this year, Kate has by far and away just recycled stuff she already owned.

Nothing (aside from one major exception) to really dazzle the eye or to set Vogue all a lather.

It all began on January 14 when Kate visited the Royal Marsden hospital where she was treated for cancer. This was always going to be a highly significant, bust out the capital letters Big Day. For the event, Kate chose a Blazé Milano coat that was first seen on Christmas Day 2021, along with a cashmere polo neck she had worn at a November 2022 rugby match, paired with a skirt she had debuted in February 2023. The sole new addition, an Asprey bag. (All fashion IDs in this story are thanks to the forensic hard work of whatkatewore.com.)

The Princess of Wales started the year as she meant to go on as she replayed some greatest hits of recent years.

Princess Catherine at the Royal Marsden Hospital on January 14, 2025 in London, England. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

She then wore it on February 11, 2025 in Wilmslow, England. Picture: Phil Noble-WPA Pool/Getty Images

On Holocaust Memorial Day, out came a Catherine Walker coat she wore first after the death of Queen Elizabeth in 2022 and then again in 2023, along with a cashmere crewneck and Roland Mouret trousers she already owned.

(Her vintage pearl necklace was a new addition and sourced from Jewish-owned London jewellery dealer Susan Caplan.)

The couple attended a ceremony to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day in January. Picture: Arthur Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images

In 2022, they placed floral tributes for Queen Elizabeth II at Sandringham. Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage

To visit Wales later in January, it was time to bust out a custom made coat from menswear tailor Chris Kerr that first got a showing in 2023 along with that blasted Zara dress, her fourth time wearing it in the last five years.

The rest of the year has followed this pattern – Kate by and large relying on items already in her closet with only the very occasional addition of something fresh.

In February, she undertook three outings; we only saw one new piece, a Peter Petrov balzer.

A visit to the National Portrait Gallery on February 4, 2025 in London. Picture: Arthur Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images

In March, again, three outings, only one new coat. In April, three events, two new looks.

This month we have had, so far, five outings, four of which saw her reviving looks we have seen before.

You see the pattern here – the occasional incorporation of something new, in amongst a parade of rewears and also runs.

The princess pictured in March. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Same, same fashion. Picture: Alastair Grant-WPA Pool/Getty Images

The woman clearly never throws anything out. To visit Wales in February, the princess wore a Ralph Lauren blazer that first wore in 2007 to go to the Cheletneham races with William only just before they would break up and years before they were even engaged.

Visiting the paddock enclosure in the Cheltenham Race Festival. Picture: AFP Pic/Carl/De/Souza

At the Meadow Street Community Garden and Woodland in Pontypridd, south Wales on February 26, 2025. Picture: Jaimi Joy/POOL/AFP

Most notably, Kate has been rewearing dresses for far more formal and State occasions, opportunities that in years past would generally have seen her roll out something brand new.

On Commonwealth Day, she busted out her ‘Beau Tie’ Catherine Walker dress that first got a look in December 2021 during her Christmas concert along with a hat she has been wearing since 2014 and a her red clutch and heels she has had for yonks.

Next, St Patrick’s Day. And a big hello to the Alexander McQueen coat that first got a run in November 2022 when she and husband Prince William were in Boston.

In May, the royal family led Britain in marking 80 years since VE Day with a series of major set pieces of the sort we have not seen since King Charles’ coronation. Each of the princess’ outfits for this, her biggest, weightiest royal outing since returning to the crowny grindstone – all recycled looks.

There was the Emila Wickstead midi length purple-y dress that dates that she has had since 2022, an eye catching Alessandra Rich polka dot number that she debuted in 2023, a hat that she wore in 2022, and a Self Portrait dress she wore in 2021 to launch her Hold Still book and which got a look in again during coronation celebrations.

Princess Catherine at the 80th anniversary of VE Day on May 05, 2025. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The same coat was worn in November 22, 2022. Picture: Paul Grover – WPA Pool/Getty Images

There have only been a couple of exceptions to this paradigm shift. Last week Kate wore a Victoria Beckham suit to present a British fashion award with the choice of the distinct two piece a “deliberate” gesture of ‘solidarity’ with Beckham, finds herself in the midst of a major family falling out, according to The Times.

The game is clearly afoot for Kate, style-wise.

Princess Catherine at the British Fashion Council. Picture: Aaron Chown – WPA Pool/Getty Images

The princess, I’d argue, is making a point. By denying the press and social media the chance to be distracted by her clothes, to take away the opportunity to dissect her latest Zara buy, she is keeping the focus on her work.

The visual repetitiveness, the boredom, is the point. The princess’ 2025 strategy appears to be driven by a resolute intention to keep the worlds’ eyes fixed on her chosen causes and on the messages she wants to get across, not where she got her trousers from.

In February, The Times revealed that Kensington Palace would no longer issue details about Kate’s outfits. (By contrast, Buckingham Palace releases information about what Queen Camilla wears when she ventures forth.)

There are plenty of cliches about a brush with sickness changing someone but what is clear

is that the princess is getting far more serious about her legacy projects. And that means only one thing.

Sigh. We are going to see that dratted Zara dress again. And again. And again probably.

Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.

Originally published as Pic confirms major Princess Kate post-cancer change