The Duchess of Cambridge undertook an engagement at RAF Wittering near Peterborough earlier today in her capacity as patron and Honorary Air Commandment of the RAF Air Cadets. Kate had the chance to try out a tutor aircraft and meet air cadets from local training corps.
The Duchess assumed the patronage in December 2015 from the Duke of Edinburgh, a role which now has her representing 42,000 air cadets and 15,000 volunteers at 1,200 units around the world.
She carried out her first engagement for the organization around this time last year when she helped mark their 75th anniversary with a service at St Clement Danes Church in London.
As for the fashion, the jacket, by Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini, is new, while the boots, which she has worn many times before, are Stuart Weitzman. The best touch, in my opinion, was the bow accent on the gloves which was a nice contrast to the look and cut of the blazer – these are still being ID’d.
Overall, I like this look fine as far as Kate’s more casual ensembles go. The outfit was appropriate for the event, which saw Kate climbing in and out of an aircraft and participating in some light physical activity. The jacket color is also a nice update to her preferred navy blazers. Today’s version, between the black pants and the hair, reminded me of one of her last looks from the Canadian tour in September 2016.
My only criticism would be that while I don’t mind that Kate has a “uniform” she uses for events like this, this entire outfit is remarkably similar (albeit a less athletic version) to her look for the marathon training sessions. She also continues to whip out military-inspired clothing items for military events, which can come across a tad costume-y.
Today marks the third day of official duties for Kate. After attending the BAFTA awards with William on Sunday evening, she was spotted yesterday with him and Harry taking part in yet another training session with Heads Together. This time, however, their participation was filmed as part of a show BBC is developing, “Mind Over Marathon,” which will air in April in conjunction with the Virgin London marathon.
Kate was wearing her red Perfect Moment jacket, black skinny jeans and what appears to be the same black turtleneck and New Balance trainers as she did for the first training session the trio attended on February 5th. Given that Harry also appears to be wearing the same jacket, I’m wondering if this was purposeful to make it seem like this all happened on the same day?
Unclear. But regardless, the Cambridges are on a roll. In addition to carrying out engagements at a slightly quicker clip, the Palace announced yesterday that William and Kate would be conducting a mini-tour of Paris on March 17-18 where they will carry out eight engagements, including a black tie dinner. It was initially reported that this would mark William’s first visit to Paris since his mother’s death in the city 20 years ago, however it’s subsequently been confirmed (via the Daily Mail’s Rebecca English) that both William and Kate have visited privately.
And yet another engagement has been added to Kate’s calendar for this month, with a scheduled visit at the Ronald McDonald House Evelina in London for the 28th. Clearly Kensington Palace isn’t messing around and the “work shy” narrative that swirled around the Cambridges in 2016 is being addressed.
Barring an unannounced event, the next time we’ll see the Duchess is on Wednesday, Feb. 22 when she carries out her first event with her new patronage, Action For Children.
See all of the looks from Kate’s engagements this year here.