The Duchess of Cambridge carried out a previously unannounced engagement today, which coincided with the announcement that the Queen has handed off another patronage to her granddaughter-in-law: the Royal Photographic Society. The new gig makes sense for Kate – she was made an honorary member of the organization back in 2017 and her personal interest in photography is well-documented.
Most of the photographs released of her children on their birthdays are pictures she takes personally at Kensington Palace or Anmer Hall, and back in 2012, KP released a handful of images she took while touring Southeast Asia with the Duke.
The Queen held the position of patron for RPS for 67 years, while it’s been in existence since 1853 when it was supported by Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert. KP noted in its announcement that the patronage will further allow Kate to work highlight the benefit of exposing children to the arts, and as such today’s engagement was a joint venture between RPS and another of Kate’s patronages, Action For Children.
Kate participated in a photography workshop that walked through the various ways to use a camera, and illustrated how photography can be used for self-expression. A video shared by royal reporter Richard Palmer:
Surprisingly, there’s no ID yet on Kate’s dress, but I’ll update this post as soon as I see one. [Update: The dress has been ID’d as Ridley London.] Her wedges are by Castañer Carina and her earrings are Catherine Zoraida. All in all, this actually looks like an ensemble Kate would have worn back in the early days of her marriage, and I kind of like the throwback.
No word yet on when we’ll next see Kate, but Wimbledon is just around the corner and I would imagine we’ll see Kate at least once or twice once it kicks off next Monday.
In other royal news, the Royal Family’s financial information for the last year has been released. I’m still sifting through the report and all of the commentary, so I’ll likely follow up later this week with some thoughts. Fun, fun 😉