Stop everything, because our favorite duchess debuted a pair of nautical-themed trousers today. This is “important,” because Kate almost exclusively sticks to dresses and skirts and when she does wear pants, they are usually for an athletic-themed engagement and are her favorite J. Brand skinnies. Once in a blue moon we’ll see some J. Crew black jeans. There was quite the furor when she was spotted wearing a trendy print a while back. But pants suitable for professional settings (i.e. her engagements) are generally not a part of the routine.

I’ll admit that I had never  noticed this until it started getting called out a couple years ago and once you see it, you can’t really “unsee” it. So, here we are: Kate wore a pair of navy cropped pants from J. Crew featuring gold buttons. Oh em gee.

The entire outfit was akin to one of my favorite looks of Kate’s from her last day in Canada during the September 2016 tour. The J. Crew shoes and the white Zara blazer over a white top are all the same, however this time she wore her hair down and included Mirabelle Lolita earrings.

Kate was out and about for the 1851 Trust’s Roadshow in London as patron for the official charity of Britain’s Americas Cup sailing team Land Rover BAR. Royal reporter Rebecca English captured video of her arriving:

This is the patronage which allows Kate to hang out with British Olympic sailor Sir Ben Ainslie, a dynamic that is usually referenced on news sites and blogs as flirtatious. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say Kate is flirting, but I will say there appears to be a little bit of a Justin Trudeau dynamic from time to time.

Today she only spoke to him via video message as he’s currently in Bermuda. Kate told him that she and the Duke of Cambridge were “glued to the telly” watching the British team compete in the semi-finals. Ben launched the team back in 2014, an endeavor that has had Kate’s full support since the beginning.

Ainslie told the Duchess:

“It’s fantastic to see the work the trust has been able to put together, it’s great to have your help with that. In the Americas cup, it’s a really fascinating design project. To have young people come down to see how the boats get designed and built and hopefully inspire them to a future in engineering and design, that’s a fantastic project.”

Per the Daily Mail’s reporting:

“The 1851 Trust roadshows uses the inspiration of Sir Ben Ainslie’s British America’s Cup challenge to inspire both primary and secondary school pupils into STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths). This includes practical applications of the challenges the team has faced in their preparations to compete in the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda. The roadshows also offers pupils the chance to get on the water themselves.”

As such, Kate met with elementary school children from four local schools. One student told reporters, “She looked even better in real life than in photos. She asked me if I’m going sailing and I said I was doing it last. It was amazing to meet her.”

Video captured by English of Kate posing for a photo at the end of the engagement:

This wasn’t, however, today’s most significant outing – that was a visit that the Queen and the Duke of Cambridge made together to the Westway Sports Centre in London following the tragic fire that occurred earlier this week at Grenfell Tower. The UK can’t really catch a break lately, but good on the Royal Family for making sure they’re showing their support and highlighting the important work of first responders in London and Manchester.

In what appeared to be an emotional visit, William accompanied his grandmother to assess the damage, meet with those affected and see what help has and could be provided. Some reports note that the Queen appeared close to tears at times, while William called out, “I’ll be back,” as the pair were departing.

At this point there’s no upcoming engagements for Kate on the books, but I would imagine something will be added soon. Well, for one, we’ll likely see the entire Cambridge family on Saturday for Trooping the Colour. Last year’s display:

We’ll also be seeing a fair amount of Kate and William in the second half of July between the visit of King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain and their tour of Poland and Germany, but I would be surprised if we didn’t see more of her between now and then. This most recent gap between engagements likely had to do with the school holiday schedule for Prince George and the fact that Felipe and Letizia were originally meant to visit June 6-8 (making it difficult to then re-schedule those days with last-minute engagements). My guess is a few more items will be added to her calendar between tomorrow and July 12th, but we shall see.