Day Two of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s mini-tour of Dublin began with a visit to Áras an Uachtaráin, the home of Ireland’s President Michael Higgins. They were greeted at the door by Secretary General Art O’Leary, who escorted them inside and through the State Reception Rooms featuring busts of all past Irish presidents.
Harry and Meghan then met with President Higgins and his wife, who took them on a short walk through the grounds accompanied by their Bernese mountain dogs, Bród and Síoda.
During the excursion, they rang the Peace Bell that was installed in 2008 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Belfast (or Good Friday) Agreement, which established modern relations between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and between both and the United Kingdom.
Reporter Emily Nash shared video of the couple signing the guest book to mark their visit:
Harry and Meghan with @PresidentIRL Michael D. Higgins. Meghan is in @RolandMouret #RoyalVisitIreland 🎥 from @RoyalReporter pic.twitter.com/BihEBJGmfw
— Emily Nash (@emynash) July 11, 2018
Meghan wore a new Roland Mouret dress in taupe. As has become her signature, it features a bateau neckline, which she showed off by wearing her hair up in a bun. The dress features a little kick of extra fabric that keeps it from looking overly severe, while she rounded out the look with a Fendi bag and heels by Paul Andrew.
Meghan has worn Mouret for years and is reportedly personally friends with him, so it’s nice to see she’s still featuring the brand post-marriage. The Duchess of Cambridge, too, is a fan and indeed debuted her first piece from the label during her own first overseas tour in 2011 so there’s nice symmetry here. More recently, Meghan wore Mouret the day before her wedding when she was photographed arriving at her hotel with her mother – both of those dresses featured similar detailing on the skirts, through the bodice was completely different. It’s actually vaguely similar of yet another look – the pink skirt suit from Prada she wore a couple weeks ago at Buckingham Palace.
I like the dress itself fine – very Meghan. I will note, however – as odd as it sounds given HRH is usually criticized for wearing her clothes too loose – that I thought the bodice of this may have been a touch too tight. In other words, at certain angles it was very clear what undergarments she was wearing. Not a disaster by any means and likely a fact less evident in person than under the glare of cameras capturing you from every angle, but nevertheless…
Anyway, Harry and Meghan are already wrapping up their afternoon engagements as we speak, so I’m moving on now to cover those!