So…Duchess Kate’s red dress was a copy of a dress from ‘Rosemary’s Baby’

Cambridges lindo departure

By the end of last week, I was completely punch-drunk from The Great Baby-Name Wait(y). I know this is completely unfair, but I ended up disgusted with how long it took the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to announce the name of little Prince Louis Arthur Charles of Cambridge. In fairness though, I think a lot of media people were disgusted too, which is why the Daily Mail published that shady piece on William and Charles’ relationship, which made William sound like a complete brat (which I believe he is). In any case, by Friday, I was completely over it. Which is why I missed this amazing observation:

As it turns out, we probably should have greeted Prince Louis with cries of “hail Satan!” We all know that Kate loves to buy new, bespoke clothes which often look like the worst trends of the 1950s or the 1910s, but copying a dress from Rosemary’s Baby is a bridge too far. Someone should have figured this out long before Kate stepped out with Little Lou.

As for Baby Lou, so many royal experts dusted off their credentials to discuss the baby name:

Prince William and Kate Middleton had several treasured royal family names to choose from when it came to selecting a name for their new son. But Louis — although a traditional name — wasn’t the obvious choice, as it’s big brother Prince George’s middle name.

Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, says using the same name across the immediate family isn’t unusual. In fact, Queen Victoria incorporated the name Albert (the name of her beloved husband, Prince Albert) in all of her sons’ names. Victoria’s grandson, George V, even incorporated it into his three sons’ names.

“While she was alive, Queen Victoria wanted all her male descendants to have Albert included in their boys’ names,” Little tells PEOPLE. “Using Louis twice would have been the couple’s choice — they clearly regard it as a nice name.”

Louis is likely a tribute to Prince Philip, whose grandfather was Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg. The name holds great meaning to William’s own father, Prince Charles, whose beloved great-uncle and mentor, Earl Louis Mountbatten, was assassinated by the IRA in 1979.

Little adds, “Louis is obviously a favorite name and an indirect nod to the Duke of Edinburgh and his side of the family. I did think that Philip might have appeared in there somewhere.”

Royal historian Robert Lacey adds: “It shows the romance of this name associated with the hero and family mentor whom William never met — his father’s ‘honorary grandfather.’ And maybe Kate enjoyed the French flavor of Louis in these Brexit days. It’s very Champs Elysées! Louis exudes the aroma of strong coffee and the fizz of champagne.”

[From People]

Ha, the idea that Will and Kate named their (Rosemary’s) baby Louis as some kind of anti-Brexit, pro-French signal is… probably not a good theory. They are trying to be the Brexit ambassadors, and they want to travel around Europe and encourage friendship and beneficial trade agreements with European (EU) countries. What does naming him Louis have to do with that though?

The Daily Express suggested that Little Lou got a “fun” name because he won’t be king and he’ll just end up a military officer, most likely. Which is probably true, but how is Louis a “fun” name?

Cambridges lindo departure

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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79 Responses to “So…Duchess Kate’s red dress was a copy of a dress from ‘Rosemary’s Baby’”

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  1. Jennifer says:

    Prince Louis of Battenberg was an interesting man. He was a German who was raised and educated in England, married one of Queen Victoria’s daughters, and had to choose between Germany and England when World War I broke out. He chose England, and changed his name to Mountbatten (the English translation of Battenberg).

    • IlsaLund says:

      So does that mean that both Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip are both direct descendants of Queen Victoria? I get so confused about the relationships between the European royal houses.

      • Merritt says:

        Yes. They are both direct descendants of Queen Victoria. They are also both descendants of Christian IX of Denmark.

      • LizB says:

        Yes! Prince Philip from his mother Alice (a great-granddaughter of Victoria) and Queen Elizabeth through her father (a great-grandson of Victoria).

        It does get crazy complicated.

      • queenE says:

        they are cousins

      • LizB says:

        @Merritt

        Ah, yes, Christian IX – the famous “Father-in-law of Europe” 🙂

    • CynicalCeleste says:

      Let’s not get off topic here. Pure evil is the only explanation for this crazy fug dress.

  2. Digital Unicorn says:

    LOL fun theory but she was cosplaying Diana and she did with the other pregnancies. Therapists will have a field day with her need to dress and act like his mother.

    W&K LOVE to troll the press and now the press are trolling back.

    • Liberty says:

      Lol!! Agreed. I had about ten texts from friends last week about Satan Dresss and am so glad someone else noticed: it wasn’t just us mewing in the garden.

      I cannot imagine hunting down what my MIL wore and copying it, even for this level of celebrity-royal press. Yikes.

    • Merritt says:

      How did she cosplay Diana after Charlotte’s birth?

    • Starryfish says:

      Seriously. I can’t imagine wanting to constantly dress up like my husband’s dead mother, and it’s even creepier to be the type of husband who would not only be okay with it but possibly encourage it.

    • Rayan says:

      “Therapists will have a field day with her need to dress and act like his mother.”

      How does Kate act like Princess Diana?! She doesn’t get involved with policial/humanitarian causes, she doesn’t do many events, she keeps quiet and plays her role. How do you know it isn’t William telling her to copy Diana’s outfits? A few of Meghan’s outfits have been a copy of Diana’s too. Everyone seems to be making her into Diana 2.0! Why can’t people let Diana’s memory rest?

      • perplexed says:

        I don’t think she does either. If she really wanted to be like Diana, she probably would have cut her hair like every other blonde news anchor once did, but, imo, the biggest indicator to me that she’s kept her own identity is that she’s kept her hair brunette and long. Diana’s short hair was a big marker of her distinctness as a female celebrity style icon, and Kate has never shown an interest in copying that.

        I can see similarities to Diana’s outfit in the post-baby outfits for George and Louis, but that seems more like a tribute to make her part of the day. But I don’t see it being a regular thing. Neither William nor Harry want Diana’s memory to die, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong in William wanting the public to remember that Diana is their grandmother Her name can’t be acknowledged elsewhere in future statements made by Charles and Camilla so the post-baby outfit is probably the easiest way to make reference to her in some way.

  3. Clare says:

    I’ll repeat this – if they truly named their child after Louis Mountbatten they are incredibly clueless, ignorant and insensitive to the history and actions of the man.

    Can we stop playing into the ‘enlightened’ and ‘open minded’ new royals narrative now?

    • Cher says:

      I agree.

    • Maria says:

      It seems to me as overusing the name. Louis is one of William’s names, and now in both of his sons’ names. I believe it’s also one of Edward’s names. All for that creepy Dickie Mountbatten. Arthur is also one of Charles’s names as well as one of William’s names, and now this baby. I was hoping they would call him Philip.

      • Clare says:

        @Maria I could overlook the use of ‘Louis’ for William and Harry as he was, for better or worse, Charles’ mentor and surrogate father. It doesn’t excuse his bigotry, racism, classist bullshit or the alleged child abuse – BUT it is even more frustrating that he is being honored by the ‘new’ royals who attempt to paint themselves as oh so enlightened and not at all racist/classist etc.

        Also, I disagree that Philip would be any better. Being named after the bigot Prince Philip would be almost as bad as being named after Louis Mountbatten.

      • Maria says:

        @Clare. I really think Mountbatten is only honoured in the royal family. Pretty sure the rest of UK doesn’t see him that way, and for sure the rest of the world sees him what he really was. And you are right, Phillip is a racist but he is still the baby’ great grandfather. And Charles is a racist too as was demonstrated last week in his comment to the woman in Manchester.

    • Seraphina says:

      Prince Lou? Isn’t the Lou a word for bathroom in England??

      • notasugarhere says:

        Loo, yes.

      • Ankhel says:

        It’s also the pet form of ‘Lucifer’.

        The Dark Prince is most vexed when his mum calls him Lou-Lou.

      • Olenna says:

        I think Katie chose “Louie” because it sounds cute. Otherwise, he would have been given a family name with more strength and character. Then, again, maybe the list of royal namesakes with strength and character has been used up.

      • notasugarhere says:

        Alexander (used with George, but hey reused Louis), James, Michael, Philip, Richard, Frederick. That’s before you get to Albert or Arthur. They had other options; they chose Lou-ie.

    • Carolind says:

      Of course they didn’t name the kid after Louis Mountbatten. Why should they? He was dead before William was born. Why pick his name and not Philip’s or Michael Middletons? Obviously simply a name they like.

  4. MostlyMegan says:

    I also was irrationally irritated at the delayed announcement of the new prince’s name. I think we all just want some good news for a change. I’m not mad at the name Louis, I kind of like that they didn’t do what everyone expected. And for what it’s worth, I think they will definitely go for number 4. Kate is really good at the baby thing.

    • notasugarhere says:

      Their press games, especially using their children, are old. Old, tiring, and obvious.

    • Carolind says:

      They didn’t give out his name on the Weds because it would have been grossly insensitive in view of the ceremonies involving the war dead. Thursday was Harry’s day to make an announcement regarding his wedding. If people cannot take this on board – Well!!

  5. Cher says:

    I did not like the dress.
    The comparison is rather morbid.
    It seems as though Kate is continuing to copy Diana, as she usually does. Other outlets compared her leaving the hospital outfits to Diana’s and the similarities are obvious…No imagination, copy, copy…

    • FLORC says:

      I’ve never fully bought into the theory kate is copying Diana’s style, but this dress. Dead on Rosemary’s baby.

      • Green Girl says:

        I am with you on that, FLORC. Unless the style and color are spot-on repeats, I just chalk up the similarities as coincidences. There is always a good chance that Diana also wore an outfit or coat in a similar color or style. (It doesn’t help that the 90s are back, which were very much when Diana came into her own, style-wise.)

        If Kate truly wanted to copy Diana’s style, then I wish she would at least emulate her post-divorce looks. Diana looked amazing in so many outfits and I think Kate could pull off quite a few of them.

      • barrett says:

        I can not unsee little orphan Annie.

    • Merritt says:

      Aside from the color the dresses were very different. Diana’s dress was some bizarre dress and suit combo. It was bad even by 1980s standards.

  6. TyrantDestroyed says:

    Hail Satan! LOL, I agree that they should had researched more before copying the dress as the jokes will be involuntary from now on.
    Regarding the name, I agree with the last theory: By being the third child the kid could be barely steps away from getting married with any of the Kardashians’ daughters so why not to give a less serious name? Probably for them Louis is the royal equivalent of audioscience. Since it was last of William’s name the option sounded plausible to me.

  7. OriginalLala says:

    umm why are they describing the earl mountbatten as a “hero” he was problematic as f*ck.

    • Digital Unicorn says:

      Yes he was. He is often referred to as a ‘hero’in the press because his death was the result of an IRA bombing.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Mountbatten,_1st_Earl_Mountbatten_of_Burma#Assassination

    • LAK says:

      The manner of his death washed away his sins and defied him. Happens all the time.

      To be clear, I don’t think he is a hero, but the media has reframed him as such simply for being murdered by the IRA and please no one mention how problematic he was.

      • notasugarhere says:

        “The manner of his death washed away his sins and defied him. Happens all the time. ” Much like Diana.

      • perplexed says:

        Diana had her faults (human ones, just like Charles and Camilla), but I don’t think she was weird like that guy.

    • Clare says:

      Because history in this country is whitewashed when it suits.
      I was ranting to my husband about this – my husband who had a doctorate from the #1 ranked University in the world and went to, incidentally, the same School as William and Harry. He has no fing clue of Mountbattens actions in India, Canada etc. He know all about how his name came about, by the way – just not if his bigotry etc.

  8. JustJen says:

    If they wanted a fun name they should have gone with Jack or James. Not a fan of Louis or Arthur.

    • TheOriginalMia says:

      This! Louis is not a fun name. It’s old and dated just like George.

      I thought they’d go with Phillip or Michael.

  9. ocjulia says:

    OMG – the ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ dress has absolutely made my day. This is amazing. I’m certain that it wasn’t done on purpose (at least on Kate’s part) but do you think her stylist was trolling her?

    In any case, it’s awesome and I love it.

  10. Rumi says:

    Disgusting, vile man. These royals represent the upmost in class and privilege, who are above the law.
    Elizabeth actively part of the coverups. MI5 must have a division dedicated just to royals and elites for coverups.
    Micheal of Kent had named two black sheep Serena and Venus.
    Oh the chuckles these guys must have had.
    Increasingly when I see these people I feel this horrible disdain for them. I feel Kate and Meghan sold their souls.

    • Citresse says:

      Kate and Meghan wanted the royal life but Kate and Meghan are very different people. Meghan; an independent spirit, I believe, will have much more trouble adjusting to royal life compared to malleable Kate. If H&M marriage lasts beyond year five, then hopefully it won’t end in divorce.

      • notasugarhere says:

        Maxima, Letizia, Daniel, Sophie, etc. seem to be doing fine. If you are a fully-formed adult going in like Meghan, you’re more likely to do okay.

  11. Anastasia says:

    My God, even the lace pattern on the collar is the same! That’s a….very unfortunate coincidence. Yikes.

  12. minx says:

    I was in high school in late 60s and I had a lace collared dress. It was a popular style from the mid 60s on, Mary Quant did a lot of them.

  13. Natalie S. says:

    If she did it deliberately, Kate would become my favorite royal and I would never criticize her again. But it’s like the portrait, inadvertent but hilarious.

    • Polly says:

      Yeah I’d kind of love it if she did it deliberately.

    • Keis says:

      Me too! I kind of hope it was deliberate. In any case, the dress ties in with her tendency to throw back to older styles, and the coloring is a nice nod to Diana, on a day where her ghost must hang rather heavily.

  14. CynicalCeleste says:

    This is the most entertaining story of the year 🙂

  15. Tess says:

    Omg the dress thing is too funny! I always wonder why she gets D-list dresses. Even when she gets nice ones something about her styling fails to elevate them.

  16. Surley Gale says:

    My goodness, and here I just thought she was wearing red and white to commemorate St. George’s Day by wearing the (red and white) flag colours….I thought she was theme dressing for the day being St. George’s Day. The only reason I know this is because the street I live on is called St. George’s. Who knew?

  17. Sparkly says:

    It took us several days to announce our third baby’s name too. We settled on the first name within the first day or two, but we couldn’t agree on middle names for several days.

  18. ChillyWilly says:

    What if Louis is short for Lucifer? Eek! Illuminati??? But seriously, that dress is an EXACT copy of Mia Farrow’s. That can’t be a coincidence. Kate may not have known, but surely the designer did! Bizarre to say the least.

    • harla says:

      I think Jenny Packham is about the same age as Kate and might never have seen or really heard of “Rosemary’s Baby”.

  19. abbie normal says:

    Well, with a bit different pronunciation, Louis Arthur could sound similar to Lucifer…….

    Meanwhile, poor Alfie Evans died a prisoner in the Liverpool hospital the same day Louis Arthur was born. Even though it appears there was no hope, why not let his parents take him to Italy?

    • LAK says:

      He might have died enroute?

    • Zapp Brannigan says:

      It was my understanding that all the Italian hospital could do was more palliative care, that there was no cure for his degenerative disorder. Also moving him would cause him a lot of pain and came with considerable risks.

      I also think that his illness was hijacked for a political and religious agenda. Certain groups preyed on his parents grief, it was just heartbreaking all round.

      • abbie normal says:

        Agreed, Zapp. Heartbreaking and, unfortunately, situation influenced and mapiulated by some with a different agenda. Heaven knows, our health care system here in the US has its own problems.
        As a parent, I would just need to know everything had been attempted.

    • Digital Unicorn says:

      Er no – Prince Louis was born on Monday, Alfie died on Saturday morning at 2.30am. The released the Prince’s name on Friday – 4 days after he was born.

      There was NO CURE or treatment for Alfie’s condition, the hospital in Italy was only offering palliative care by inserting a breathing tube into his throat and a feeding tube into his tummy to keep him alive artificially while his organs failed – he would have died eventually, something that the medical professionals from both sides agreed on. Also there was a serious risk that he might not have survived the flight due to cabin pressure and the effect that would have had on the remaining brain tissue that had not degenerated. Much of his brain tissue had turned to mush and EEG scans showed very little brain activity. His parents had to repeatedly give him CPR as he struggled to breathe on his own, even thou his father told the world the opposite.

      The misinformation surrounding this case was awful, his parents heads were filled with nonsense by extreme religious groups (his fathers lawyer was from a ‘Christian’ group that was anti-choice, anti-abortion and anti-LGBT+) – you should read the Judge’s final statement in full, its very informative about the stunts that the groups supposedly backing the parents were up to. As Zapp points out, the case was hijacked to push a political and religious agenda by very conservative religious groups.

      • abbie normal says:

        Thank you for the correction, Unicorn. Apologies. It appears more reading and research is due on my part.

      • Elodie says:

        All of this barely hides the fact that ultimately the *state* decided what was best for Alphie. Not his Mother, and not his Father. Its a question of the disgusting erosion of parental rights. Now you are a parent IF and only IF the state says so.

        The death of Alphie was horrifyingly sad. The slow decay of parents rights should terrify us all.

      • Ankhel says:

        Parents are deeply human. Emotions can become a blindfold, as well as a barrier. Alfie’s parents literally prolonged his death struggle by months. They didn’t see it that way of course- they loved him and hoped for a miracle- but they did. He had no quality of life. He was unconscious, and he was suffering on life support for a long time. There was no cure in Italy, only even more life support. I feel pity for Alfie’s parents, but their wish to keep his ruined body “alive” wasn’t in his best interest.

        I’ve been in a situation where a recently retired relative became dependent on life support. It was IMPOSSIBLE to say: turn it off. It felt like killing him. We had to turn that choice over to another party. If he had been a child, our child… I don’t know if we could have done even that for him. Someone would’ve had to take control in the end.

        Arguments can be made against state intervention in the private sphere, but this case just isn’t a good example.

      • Nic919 says:

        I never understand why the super religious try to keep people alive at all costs when the medical professionals say otherwise. Christians believe in the afterlife and so they should be happy to have him sent to a better life. And if you are not supposed to interfere with God’s will with birth control and IVF, then you can’t interfere if God’s will is for the child to die. The parents and the predatory Christian groups were not even applying their own Christian beliefs here.

  20. Who ARE These People? says:

    2 other Louis associations far from the royals’ minds:

    Lou Gehrig and Lou Costello. I’m going with the latter.

  21. homeslice says:

    I think the name was Arthur Louis and they changed at last minute, JMO.

    As for the dress?? Holy moly, doesn’t she have like a team to look into these things. It is totally creepy that it is almost exactly a copy of Rosemary’s. Oy.

    It was just not a nice dress to begin with. Put on a comfy pair of leggings and nice long, cozy sweater and be done with it. I’m glad we probably don’t have to see Kate’s glam hospital shots anymore.

    • Moneypenny424 says:

      I agree. I would have loved to have seen her in a pair of comfortable pants and chic flats and a gorgeous sweater or something. She could have been glamorous and comfortable at the same time.

    • harla says:

      I have to say that this whole post-birth glam looks rather cold and sterile to me. I agree with Moneypenny, comfortable pants (maybe in a soft bamboo fabric) with a flowy blouse, flats and her hair up in a casual bun would have been perfect.

  22. trh says:

    He has his father’s eyes.

  23. Rain says:

    When is Nota going to fess up to being a certain writer? They both have irrational hatred for Kate

  24. Reece says:

    Whoa whoa whoa, lace and all! LMAO And Alfonso Cuaron tweeted it?!? It’s so random.
    But seriously it’s the maternity style from that time period she likes to portray herself as being a part of. Rosemary’s Baby was budget in the 60’s (since hardly anyone wanted to touch it due to the subject matter) so they would have used the most easily accessed wardrobe. Hence the style of the dress then and her wearing it now.
    In hindsight she should have stuck with her blues and pastels cuz…LMAO!

    I don’t have enough knowledge of that part of the royal family to get into name meanings but I like readings everyone’s interpretations.

  25. Carolind says:

    Kate probably has never heard of Rosemary’s Baby and certainly would not know about dresses. I am of an age that has heard of it but apart from some connection with the devil know nothing about it. An American thing. Not British.