The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry attended a “Service of Hope” at Westminster Abbey earlier today in honor of the victims and first responders affected by the recent terrorist attack in London. The three laid a wreath in remembrance and met with members of the Abbey’s clergy and London Mayor Sadiq Khan before joining the congregation of 1,800 people by way of a formal procession down the aisle.
The service was broadcast live and William did a brief reading from Luke. At its close William, Kate and Harry met with certain attendees privately.
This follows visits that William and the Prince of Wales made to London hospitals in the days following the March 22nd attack where they met with those injured and the medical staff attending to them.
Video of the three arriving and in the Abbey captured here via the Daily Mail; you can skip to the 2:20 mark:
Today’s event was obviously a solemn one and, fittingly, Kate opted to recycle a previously worn ensemble instead of debuting a new look. The coat is Missoni and features a black, grey and white “snake stitch.” It was first worn last year in France when Kate accompanied William and Harry for the centennial of the Battle of the Somme. Her clutch appears to be new, from Beulah London – though not hitherto seen publicly, it was also a nod to a London-based brand, which seems appropriate for the occasion.
Her shoes were black suede Gianvito Rossi and her hat was by Sylvia Fletcher for Lock & Co. Her pearl earring are on loan to her from the Queen.
Today’s appearance was the last event on Kate’s calendar for the near future; the next one scheduled is her solo day trip to Luxembourg in mid-May. This Sunday, however, William and Harry will accompany Charles to northern France to commemorate the centennial of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The couple have been in London for a couple weeks now and it’s possible that Kate will decamp with the children to Norfolk for a long weekend or a week. Generally engagements are scheduled a week or two ahead of time, so nothing on the calendar to-date doesn’t necessarily indicate a long hiatus.
Yesterday, Prince Harry, in his capacity as patron of the Halo Trust, an anti-landmine charity he took over after his mother, gave an important speech honoring her important work on the issue. I’ll cover it in more detail this weekend, but in the meantime you can catch up on it here.
