As I suspected, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge turned up at the Queen’s garden party this afternoon alongside other members of the Royal Family. This the Queen’s second garden party of the season, but the first she attended in person. A third is scheduled for Thursday, with a fourth on Wednesday, May 29.
These parties are a long-held royal tradition dating back to the reign of Queen Victoria, and Kate has semi-regularly attended since she married William. She made appearances in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017, the last of which also included a “special event” garden party that she, William, and Harry hosted for the children of military families. She bowed out in 2015 and 2018 thanks to maternity leaves for Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
As such, it’s been two years since we’ve seen Kate at one of these events, and so today was a nice surprise.
It should further be noted that the Queen wore sunglasses.
Also on hand were the Queen’s younger sons, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex, as well as the Countess of Wessex. They were joined by the Queen’s cousins, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and Princess Alexandra. A mini-reunion from yesterday’s Chelsea Flower Show, though there was no sign of Princess Beatrice.
Kate debuted a new coat dress by Alexander McQueen that is double-breasted, pleated, and pale pink. All HRH’s favorite things (alongside polka-dots and ruffles, of course). Her hat is by Juliette Botterill, and her heels are Gianvito Rossi.
This is one of those ensembles that I almost can’t be bothered to weigh in on. It’s not very exciting (to me), because it feels like we’ve seen it many times before, but this is also one of those occasions where Kate is hardly going to take a risk. The coat dress exemplifies Kate’s signature style for family events and she carries it well, so I’m going to go ahead and give it to her.
No new engagements have been scheduled for Kate, but I expect Kensington Palace will do so in the coming days and we’ll have another smattering of appearances before Trooping the Colour in two weeks.