Duchess Kate in Roksanda at the Patron’s Lunch: appropriate & cute?

I think if any of us somehow ended up married to Prince William, all of us would spend most of our time flirting with Prince Harry. So it is with the Duchess of Cambridge. William, Kate and Harry all did three major public appearances in three days. These photos are from Sunday’s Patron’s Lunch, yet another celebration of the Queen’s 90th birthday. The Queen and her family took part in a parade and I guess people ate lunch on or around the Mall. William made a speech. And Kate and Harry flirted.

Kate wore this colorblocked Roksanda dress which… I don’t really mind. It’s an okay dress, it’s appropriate for the event, the color combo of a medium sky blue with the pink is really nice. The dress wasn’t too short, and it wasn’t some airy, un-weighted full skirt that would blow up at any moment. Which just shows that Kate actually does know how to dress appropriately… when she knows the Queen will be watching. When she’s not going to be in front of the Queen, there are Marilyn Moments galore.

As for Kate and Harry flirting, it’s all the Daily Mail could talk about this weekend. Kate and Harry sharing jokes at church last Friday, Kate and Harry whispering to each other as William ignored them. Kate and Harry have a long history of being publicly flirtatious with each other. I don’t think there’s anything going on other than Kate likes attention and Harry is a major flirt (with anyone!).

Photos courtesy of Getty.

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65 Responses to “Duchess Kate in Roksanda at the Patron’s Lunch: appropriate & cute?”

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  1. HH says:

    The dress is appropriate, but I don’t like it. Something about it and the way she wore her hair makes it look “schoolgirl-ish.” It could also be the color combo. Maybe if it was navy blue/white, instead of pastels, it would have a more sophisticated vibe. In the DM article they linked to the website’s pictures of the dress and I didn’t like it there either. Fashion-wise, who would put a horizontal color-block right near/at the hips?? It would appear to accentuate width.

    Also, the flirtation angle is always odd (and rude) to me.

    • AtlLady says:

      The problem with the dress is that the top of the salmon colored band is supposed to fit at the waist and flow over the hips. Catherine is too long waisted to wear it off the rack.

    • msthang says:

      HH, My first thought was Ugly !!!! There is nothing redeeming about it at all !!!

  2. Vava says:

    The dress is OK, I guess. No plunging neckline, no Marilyn Moments. But maybe once, just once – she can improve on her accessories. The jewelry she’s wearing is absolutely uninspiring, and the shoes and little clutch bag are too. UGH. The hairstyle looks like something a grade school girl wears.

    I do laugh at the thought of being married to William. No way. But, if I had to be I’d be flirting with Harry, too. Can’t blame her for that!

  3. jammypants says:

    The nude shoes again 👎

    • mary simon says:

      I hate nude shoes. Worst fashion trend, ever. And Kate just won’t let it go. New dress, old shoes.

      • jammypants says:

        The worst part is they’re probably all different and costly, but look so basic and samey.

  4. hmmm says:

    ‘Tis ever thus: Harry’s talking across her and she acts as if he’s talking to her. I have seen no flirtation. I’m guessing he can’t stand her.

    Hate the dress. Hate the colour combo. Hate the colour on her. (Does this make me a h8ter? ha!) The top part looks like a T shirt and she has old lady arms with those awful sleeves.

  5. GoodNamesAllTaken says:

    I think she looks pretty in that color and the dress is cute. Sigh with the nude shoes and teensy jewelry.

  6. Deedee says:

    Before you comment on the dress, you need to find a photo of the back. It’s been altered from the original design to have a zipper all the way to the hem with a large pull ring at the bottom.

      • antipodean says:

        @Lizzy, thanks for that pic, why would anyone add such a hideous zipper, with ring tab, to what is otherwise quite a pretty, and unusually for Katie Bucket, occasion appropriate frock? The taste of said Bucket is once again under question. The back view also gives the impression that she is in the first stages of developing a Dowager’s Hump. Not surprising given her reported excess dieting, and bad posture. I see osteoporosis in her future.

      • dawnchild says:

        LOL!
        In case of emergency, pull to inflate into actual working royal…

      • Megan says:

        The zipper is part of the original design. So I think the question is really why would someone design a dress with such a hideous zipper? Is it supposed to make the dress “edgy”?

      • Deedee says:

        The exposed zipper is on the original design, but just goes through the peachy colored band, not all the way down. And the pull ring was at the neckline, not at the bottom.

    • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

      GAH! How horrible.

    • Lisa says:

      Why would they make that idiotic alteration? That zipper looks horrendous and now I go from sort of liking the dress to absolutely hating it. SMH! Also, I noticed that there isn’t as much photoshop used in these photo – now she looks to be in her “normal” late forties again.

    • Vava says:

      Not only the zipper is changed from the original design, but a long-time poster over on Royal Dish pointed out that the orange part has been shorted, too. And the dress is shorter than the original. Not that it really matters, but I like the original one better. Kate’s alterations rarely improve anything, imo.

    • notasugarhere says:

      Why add it? Because she has to add an element of sex to everything? Skirt cannot fly up on this design, okay I’ll have them add a silly zipper.

      • Lisa says:

        Maybe it was a hint to William giving him access from the back. Ugh, I think I just lost my appetite for lunch.

  7. Jayna says:

    Kate looks so pretty in these photos. I love her hair.

  8. Kbeth says:

    Dress is bland, I like her hair off her face.

  9. Lizzy says:

    I highly doubt Harry is flirting with her – a woman he called Limpet. I think he acts like a babysitter + magnet for the Lamebridges- he is the buffer between the 2 as well as since Harrys is so popular, the dolittles hope to benefit from borrowed glory! I think he is just being polite and Kate as usual makes those over exaggerated expressions to get noticed.

    Also a 12-year old Lady Louise could walk around talking to people without needing 2 chaperones (W &H -like Kate) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CkwzmN1WkAQVwrN.jpg she was adorable.

    • antipodean says:

      I absolutely love Lady Louise’s look, that coat is perfection! Kate better look to her laurels, LL is a star in the making. If she is anything like her Mama (Sophie), she will have a well formed idea of noblesse oblige, something the Buckets could do well to brush up on.

    • notasugarhere says:

      Harry admitted at the time of the engagement that he was looking forward to getting to know her. Meaning he had nothing to do with her for the 10 years she was dating his brother.

      Harry’s job is to put everyone at ease. If that means putting up with his SIL’s inane comments because his brother is ignoring his wife in public again? So be it. The tension in him is obvious, but he’ll do his job for the Firm and put up with her.

      • Lizzy says:

        @Notasugar- Exactly…a 10-year gf of your sibling and yet you dont know her-that was the most telling statement from him..ofcourse later he toed the line and called her a sister he never had lol.
        Also just the day before this lunch event, they had the trooping event o the balcony and even if they were on the balcony for just 5-10 min, it was astonishing to see them push Harry in the back and also perplexing that Harry had ZERO interaction with the dolittle kids when he managed to talk to bea who was 4 people away, Charles who was 3-people away(kate-camilla-charles the standing position) and yet nothing to George or Charlotte…he doesnot seem close to them, only to William and that too seems peripheral now.

      • Megan says:

        Michelle Obama said George kept asking why Uncle Harry was so quiet when they had dinner together. Harry and George clearly have some relationship since George was expecting a throw down.

        At the Trooping, Harry appeared to be listening to William’s conversation with George. They were on the balcony for about four minutes and it was very loud, so I didn’t read anything into it.

      • Cricket says:

        I agree Harry’s role seems to be putting everyone at ease, I wonder if this was the role he assumed as a child with his parents?

      • Egla says:

        I know all my friends boyfriends in a week or two after they get together . They run to introduce them to me and tell me EVERYTHING. Also they think that they are the ones LOL. My sister did that too even when she lived abroad. I received daily updates.
        But if he didn’t knew her before well…Will kept her as far away as he could. He kept her hidden.
        I feel like e stalker here I almost only comment on her posts but i really really hate wasted opportunities. Ugh. She has been given so much in life and yet…… Also Lady Louise a great example. See how it is done Kate. Simple things small gestures….

  10. 600Purple says:

    I saw these and feel really bad for thinking it but their body language shows they are really into each other. If you didn’t know who they were, going by those photo’s it would be very easy to assume Kate was with Harry and not William.

  11. The Original Mia says:

    That zipper is ridiculous. The original dress didn’t have that. This one is clearly bespoke, and thus falls (fails) completely on Kate and her eye for design. What I don’t get is the need for this new dress, when she literally has dozens of dresses she could have worn. Dresses that haven’t seen the light of day since she originally wore them.

    • Vava says:

      She has so many blue dresses with this sort of cut, it boggles the mind why she needed yet another one.

  12. Fan says:

    The three of them have their own language without talking.

    • Cricket says:

      I think Kate practices her royal I’m not amused face in the mirror, she seems to have it mastered now.

  13. Joannie says:

    She looks fine and I’m sure Kate and Harry have a great relationship. I don’t see anything that suggests otherwise.

  14. ClaireB says:

    Boob darts! Exposed zipper! Dress that might have been cute made meh by Duchess of Drab! Story at 11.

  15. Tash says:

    I like it. At least it’s not another coatdress.

  16. Murphy says:

    When a handsome man is nice to her she just can’t resist because her own husband is such a miserable pill.

    • Nic919 says:

      In the pictures she is the only one smiling when Harry talks to her. I think she just gets so little attention from Will that when Harry simply talks to her she gets the giggles.

  17. maum says:

    Forget Kate.

    Look how old Peter Phillips looks! He got hit by the Prince William Windsor ageing disease.

    • Tourmaline says:

      I noticed that! Peter also is looking kind of chunky lately. Maybe he had been dipping into those Marks and Spencer hampers too much in the run up to the event.

  18. Rapunzel says:

    That zipper is just begging for a wardrobe malfunction.

  19. Susan says:

    These pics reiterate my opinion that Kate is a bit of a cypher and refracts the personality of those around her. Example: Pippa: party girl/Wisteria sister. Carole: alpha female/catch that husband strategy. Unfortunately, the William moody/negative/downer is what she’s surrounded by mostly these days, thus the loss of some of her previous personality/spark. Harry, time and again, makes her laugh and puts her at ease. Kinda sad, actually.

  20. Cheslsea says:

    Does this woman own a pair of heels besides those nude ones?

  21. thecookingpan says:

    The dress is a snooze fest…

  22. Kat says:

    First, I think the dress is not good. Her dreadful posture gives her a tum and the peach band is placed to accentuate it.

    Also, what a swizz this event was! It was 150 quid to attend and all you got was a picnic hamper with food that can’t have cost more than 50 from a mid priced supermarket. They didn’t even bother with a rain shelter!

    • Devereaux says:

      They CHARGED Charities 150 pounds to attend. Not millionaires. Ordinary Charity workers who may or may not make that in an entire week.

      They CHARGED to have access to the Royal family. To their own Head of State. Imagine if you were charged to go see Obama.

      And who organized this event which CHARGED charity workers? Who pray tell?

      Peter Phillips.

      It was his idea. His company was “awarded” the contract. And his company who will profit from CHARGING charities to eat lunch on the street in the rain and wave at the sliver of the sovereign they can just make out.

      Corruption?
      Why no! After all, anyone could have been awarded that contract (wink wink). Peter Phillips Grandson-of-the-Queen *earned* it fair and square!

      Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to purchase the Brooklyn Bridge. I hear its for sale.

      • notasugarhere says:

        But remember, it is Beatrice and Eugenie who are the *real* problem. Peter and Zara are saints according to some.

  23. Sylvia says:

    I don’t care about the dress, I mean it’s okay? Are royals known for their fashion? Because I never think any of them look good. But how old is she? She seems to be aging rapidly, which is mystifying to me considering the money and access she has to have. Or maybe it’s because I don’t pay much attention to her and the last time I did she was youngish, but now she’s like 40? I don’t think she’s 40 though. Stress? I guess being royalty isn’t all its cracked up to be.

    As for her and Harry flirting, I first skimmed to look only at the pics and didn’t read, and when I got to them together I was like “wow, she has a million times more sexual tension and chemistry with the ginger one than with her own husband!” Then I went back to read the article. I feel vindicated, because I’m never good at guessing things like that from pictures. That, or it’s really obvious. Damn, it’s probably the latter.

  24. Starlight says:

    Zips must be coming into vogue, she loves the tarts trotters heels as Princess Diana called them, obviously flats are a no no but it’s probably a psychological thing she would hate to be shorter in height.
    I wonder if Wills and Pippa were always having private little jokes how she would react. Anyway as much as it’s nice they all get on there is a time and a place for in jokes I.e away from the public gaze. Roll on the day Harry gets a serious girlfriend, actually now that would be interesting.

    • Vava says:

      Actually, from what I’ve been seeing on fashion sites, exposed zippers are finally going out of style. And block heels are IN. The classic court shoe will probably always be around, but Kate is a ‘one trick pony’ and so I don’t expect to see her try anything very cool.

  25. EmilyW says:

    Obviously this would never happen, but for a split second when I first saw the photo I thought it was a crop top and skirt! Maybe it’s just my screen but that peach band across the middle looks a little flesh toned.

  26. Cerys says:

    I didn’t mind the dress when I first saw it but seeing the zip at the back ruins the whole design for me. The hair, shoes, bag and posture let her down as usual. I don’t know how close she is to Harry but it seems surprising he spends so much time interacting with someone he called the limpet – a very fitting description.

  27. what's inside says:

    Thought the fashion pick was a bust. Peter Phillips made money off of charities — sounds like a symbiont relationship.

  28. lily says:

    I find that bklue dress so tacky.
    That pink band on the waist and the side white band are hideous.
    No class, no elegance.
    Is it only me thinking so?

  29. MinnFinn says:

    That doesn’t look like flirting. Harry says funny things and Kate over reacts and gets all giddy. Harry looks slighty WTF? and amused at the rise he gets out of her. I think Harry likes to make all people laugh and with Kate he especially enjoys seeing her oddball reactions.