Here are some additional photos of the Duchess of Cambridge in her Christmas best at Sandringham, trying to break the internet by making a public show of getting along with the Duchess of Sussex. You know what I thought when I saw these pics? “Someone told her to dress more like a Future Queen.” The hemline of her Catherine Walker coatdress is super-conservative, the velvet detailing is very fussy and royal, and the brooch is totally Future Queen Realness. Will we ever see the jeggings and wedges again?!?
Anyway, the gossip build-up was all about this Sandringham church-walk on Christmas Day. All of the royal stories were building up to it. And then Kate decided to grab some solo headlines just a few days before Christmas:
The Sun seemed to get the exclusive (bystander?) photos – Kate went to The Range, described as a “cut-price outlet” by The Sun. From the descriptions of the place, I get the feeling it’s sort of like the American chain Target? Perhaps. Kate brought Charlotte and George to The Range and Kate reportedly “bought trolley-loads of pictures, children’s books and artist materials then queued at the tills.” The Sun theorized that she was buying cheap “gag gifts” for the royal family, but from the descriptions of kids’ books and arts & crafts stuff, I bet she was doing last-minute shopping for her own children, and maybe some of the royal kids, like Mia Tindall. But the whole thing was interesting, right? I never would have figured Kate for a last-minute Christmas shopper, but there she was, doing a “just like us” stunt, just in time to snatch some last minute headlines. Well played, Kate.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I like what she is wearing.
I think the feud is between Harry and William, more than Kate an Meghan, probably the two duchesses are too different to get along, but I don’t think they’re at each other’s throats.
I like what Kate is wearing. I’m certain it’s an exact copy of that green coat dress she has been wearing (and looking lovely in) for years.
Her little hair fastener and coat do not match and it bothers me lol. The tones are slightly off.
The coat is so pretty tho. I’m envious.
Yes! I like Kate’s headbands (I know many people do not), but this one doesn’t match the dress and why would she do that?
First thing I noticed. Beautiful coat. Hat doesn’t match and it makes me really uncomfortable.
Haha! Me too! I think if she had a third thing (like a scarf) that was in the same color family but not the same it would better, but the collar kind of limits that. These headbands look okay from the front but rather weird from the sides and back.
I was feeling so petty for noticing, so I’m glad I’m not the only one.
I love what she’s wearing, it just bugs me that the headband and gloves are a different shade than the coat.
I just looked again. Maybe the headband matches the gloves? That makes sense, but when there’s so many pictures without the gloves it just looks mis-matched.
… and now I cannot unsee it!
Shoes too. All accessories are that purpley (mauve?) colour and yet her coat is red. I wonder what her outfit is underneath.
The slightly off tones bothered me too
Hat gloves and purse match…
Kate undoubtedly looked good, and very predictable too. The cut of the bespoke coat was perfect.
It’s nice but she dresses so much older than her age… Also…don’t mean to be catty but does it look like they’re all smiling through their teeth/trying too hard?
Spot on Kaiser! I think so too. They are making her dress mire for her future role. She could vamp it up a bit. Granted for Christmas one can inly do so much.
I am disappointed in Megs outfit. I will give her pass since I know that there days a future mom to be doesn’t feel like looking like a runway model and being dissected by the all who see her.
They always say, dress for the job you want, not the job you have!
Meghans outfit is what I would wear.
Meghan has no need to vamp it up, she is such a beauty. One or two of the pictures I saw of her in DM literally took my breath away, and I have seen loads of Meghan pictures. When you see Meghan the first thing you see is her beauty not her clothing, with the other royal women it is the other way around. Meghan dent need to dress up, she just has to turn up.
I disagree. Simply showing up is not enough. I am a Megs fan, but she does not have enough “IT” to just show up. Especially with all the haters she has. We hold Kate to a certain standard and we should also hold Megs to that. Fair is fair.
That said, Queen looked awesome. As time as passed, I can see why she is so adored by her public.
“Her public”? The Queen owns no one, even if she does feel she is owed a free ride by dint of birth.
I think Kate looks pretty and appropriate here. I’m surprised by how much I like the whole look, buttons and all. The hat is meh.
I like it too..love the gloves and suede (I think) clutch too..very holiday-ish.
I don’t really get the headband hat. Maybe the full hat is too hot?
Kate looks very christmassy and fun. The outfits of William, Harry and Meghan are too dark/sober for my taste…
I really love what Kate is wearing here. Megan looks like she’s going to a funeral.
Meghan’s outfit is dreary and sad.
Meghan has always been very thin. She may feel uncomfortable being pregnant and prefers to blend her bump in with dark colors.
Does anyone think that wasn’t a pr stunt? And she’s involving the kids in it too. I thought it was interesting that it was possible to get multiple photos of Kate and none of the kids or maybe there was some kind of behind the scenes thing about not publishing photos of them. So, there was that one paper that was pushing the difficult narrative about Meghan and Carole did an interview with them and now the Sun gets an exclusive about Kate.
In the early days of the Cambridge marriage, there would be mentions on Twitter of Will and Kate being spotted by other people. I haven’t seen those in years but I don’t know if that’s because the royal gossip sites don’t mention them or they’re being deleted like I think recently that picture of Meghan and Harry at the lunch was deleted.
If she was out with the kids there would be pictures of her with the kids at the stores. So the fact that none of the pictures published includes the kids means that KP only gave permission for her photos to be published. This wasn’t random. Also the RPO didn’t block all the shots. Often they do that or ask for people to delete photos.
Right, it was a dead giveaway that this was arranged. Normal and thrifty Kate staged a little pr stunt for Christmas. They all do it so I’m not judging her on that and it’s not a bad try at getting some good press.
I don’t think it was a PR stunt- shoppers described how much she was buying, and I think if it was just a quick trip for the cameras she wouldn’t have had multiple trolleys.
I think it’s very likely that the shopper who did get the photos might indeed have got photos of the kids (Kate is mostly only seen in them head and waist-up, easy to crop out any little kids that way) but the paper didn’t run with them. Yes, great shots, but that would be the FASTEST way to have KP coming down on their heads like a ton of bricks- W&K go after anyone who tries to run paparazzi/unofficial/not taken with quiet permission photos of their kids HARD. They probably wouldn’t ever have got to run their story- at least, not complete with photos- had they tried to print any pictures of the little royals. (They may even have made a quiet deal with KP- we run with the pictures of Kate and nobody sees the pictures of George and Charlotte? I don’t know if they would, but it would explain why nobody at KP pulled the photos of Kate from running.)
Normally, Kate and Will refuse to allow any pictures being printed. So when we do see pictures in an UK paper, it means the pictures were endorsed by William and Kate. Even if it originally wasn’t, allowing their family moment to become a story in the Sun turns it into pr though personally I think the whole thing was staged.
And it should be a very unusual move for the Cambridges who are usually all about fighting for their privacy, but they do have a track record of releasing “candid” photos of them being normal -the train rides and dinner at the pub photos.
The trolleys of stuff is also part of what makes me think it was staged. It’s over the top unless people really think Kate did her Christmas shopping last minute or her craft shopping all at once at a discount shop during the last minute Christmas rush?
Yep I think this is the right take. The full pics have the kids and the Sun opted to edit. I thought there was some sort of understanding re: unofficial images of minor (age not significance lol) in the press since William and Harry were teens. But I agree that’s crazy to stage with multiple carts etc. a pr thing would have been breezing in to buy socks.
Personally, I suspect if she did buy stuff, it might have been for the less fortunate or one of her children’s charities. That way, both a P.R. Stunt and a way to donate.
When you go to a supermarket you can’t stop people from bringing out their phones & snapping pictures. The Range is a large store & the RPO can’t block every angle. These snaps were taken by a fellow shopper who was there, it was not a staged paparazzi picture. According to the report another shopper asked to take a selfie with Kate but Kate refused. If the pictures were taken illegally perhaps KP could step in, but you can’t stop members of the public from taking a picture in a public place & publishing those pictures on their social media or selling the pics to newspapers. Kate has been snapped many times over the years at the supermarket, we’ve also seen snaps of Harry & William.
The reason the children are not pictured is because the British newspapers have an agreement not to publish pictures of the Cambridge children when they are in a private setting.
William and Kate had published pictures pulled from the DM a few years ago and only relented because the paper complained that they hadn’t also gone after the foreign press. We don’t see actual candids from the Cambridges or the Sussexes. I think the last genuine candid we saw of Kate was a clip on the internet of her with William leaving the Queen’s favorite restaurant in London -I have to look up the name. Before that, it was the Lululemon shot after the blogging event.
Foreign publications will publish photos of the kids and have before so we’ll have to wait and see if these highly lucrative pictures show up anywhere else.
It was definitely staged. The pictures were allowed to be published. Kate loves this ‘look at me I am just like any ordinary housewife’ stunt. We did not see pics of the kids and so it was clearly ‘arranged’ to get a ‘Kate story’ in the headlines.
Or maybe a last minute play date with the cousins was arranged and Kate took George and Charlotte to the store to pick out activities for the gathering. Yes, that is normal, but the royals don’t spend all of their free time sipping tea and eating crustless sandwiches.
Kate took George and Charlotte into the last minute holiday shopping rush to buy several cart loads of merchandise for a last minute playdate with the cousins and then approved of her picture being published by the Sun (Notice no complaint by their people that their privacy was disturbed)?
Kate and William are aggressive with the press when it comes to their privacy. This isn’t speculation but actual pictures of her. When they don’t complain, it means that they approved of it.
So were the pictures of Meghan shopping at Whole Foods in Kensington also staged? Whole Foods also happens to share the same building as the daily mail offices which left a lot of people questioning why she chose to shop there of all places! If you want to accuse Kate of ‘staging’ pics then Meghan is just as guilty. Who can also forget Meghan’s pap shots in front of the gym on the eve of Pippa’s wedding making sure that the world knew she was in town!
Yes, absolutely. That’s why I keep including the Sussexes. They all do it. They’re in the public eye. Of course they want to control how the public perceives them.
And it makes the real candids that much more fun. The real vs. the stage-managed.
I think the pictures of Harry leaving the gym during the leadup to his wedding were real candids.
Shopping at a discount store, staged or not, is pretty unobjectionable IMO.
@minx. I agree. No judgement from me. Like I said, it’s not a bad idea.
Natalie S, yes, I was responding more to other comments. )
She was WITH the kids. The person taking the snaps said Char and George were there, picking out things. In the pic where Kate is I. Line to pay, she has a little navy jacket under her arm as well.
I live in Norfolk, not far from Sandringham and where I live, Kate and William regularly shop. They did much more so when Norfolk was their main home. All the locals knew where they would shop and restaurants that they would visit through word of mouth but there was never anything online that I saw. You weren’t allowed to take photos of them and if you tried, their RPO would be quick to get involved. The Range isn’t far from them so it would make sense that she would shop in there. They definitely do go out and shop for themselves, even if it’s not all the time. The fact that this ended up on the front page of the Sun is either for publicity or a photo which someone slipped through the net. I should imagine the shop was very busy and it would have been hard to avoid photo’s entirely so there might be more on instagram or twitter.
Nothing is a coincidence with any of them when it comes to what ends up in the UK papers.
I doubt this was pr cos it’s not like Kate doesn’t go shopping. There was also something about kids’ photos that went unpublished cos KP asked and it became a whole thing…
I love The Range! The arts and crafts section is fantastic, and they do some really decent homewares too. They do sell some cheap tat, like the kids’ stuff, but I’m impressed Kate, or someone in her team, knew about the arts and crafts stuff available there.
Kate has been pictured going to regular shops for years with her kids. I’m not sure why that would make her trying to steal the spotlight. I like both outfits, and they look like they get along fine.
+1
I was in the bargain store last minute too, Kate.
I think this is a replica of the green one we’ve seen her in right? Just in cranberry for the Holidays.
I think Kate looks lovely! The fit’s perfect and the velvet edging on the coat is great, especially for Christmas.
it’s a typical Kate ensemble. Boring, only because she has other coats by that designer and they all look the same. Granted, the tailoring is good and the velvet cuffs, collar, buttons and pocket flaps are a nice touch. I don’t like the various shades of red together, either. They are very close in shade, but not a perfect match. I don’t mind miss-matched hues, but they have to look deliberate. (as in fire engine red and burgundy look nice together). This outfit would have looked better with other accessories like tartan shoes with a block heel, different colored gloves and clutch handbag to coordinate with the shoes and coat. I absolutely loathe that hat she’s wearing. Move over Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Cambridge has arrived.
I agree so much with your comments. She could really look chic but hardly ever does, she wears the same stuff all the time
I think by now it’s a given that she’s not going to look really chic. She’s no Queen Letizia, it’s just not in her. The most we can hope for is pretty and tasteful.
It’s not her job to be a fashion model. Minx is right in that we should just expect it to be appropriate and tasteful, same with Meghan. Not sure where the idea came from to expect anything otherwise, plus fashion is based on opinions.
From the he sounds of what she picked up, it sounds like she might have done a quick run with the kids to pick out gifts for their cousins and maybe some activities to do during the holidays. Not major Christmas shopping. If she was shopping for her kids, the likely wouldn’t have Beene with her.
She has people running errands for her and definitely doesn’t neee to rush to “Walmart” at the last minute.
That’s the thing and exactly why this looks like staged pr.
Her outfit is a disaster! Wearing burgundy headband, gloves, shoes and bag is a big no with red coat. Also we have seen that coatdress in green.
Nah, she looked absolutely gorgeous and the color combination was beautiful. I love burgundy and red.
I also love burgundy, especially the clutch is fab. This look is def a win.
In other pictures I’ve seen, her hat, shoes and clutch match the velvet trim on her coat. In other pictures, they do not match at all. In person, I’m guessing everything matched perfectly. Regardless, I think she looks wonderful and very festive.
The headband has pink undertones. Sorry I notice these things. Does not match. The shoes are burgundy so. Has brown undertones. Bag was good because it was a berry color. Almost impossible task to coordinate red tones.
I’m not even really a Kate fan but I think she looked lovely, and regal.
And perhaps she was buying for a children’s charity.
Or perhaps some of the “gag” gifts TRF gives each other. One year, I read Harry gave TQ a shower cap that said “Head Bitch”. I almost died laughing imagining that scene!
That’s what I’m thinking. We are going to see Duchess Kate roll up at a children’s charity and do arts and crafts with them real soon.
It looks more like a Lowe’s or a Home Depot.
Not a fan of Kate’s look. Dowdy and old fashioned looking. I like Meghan’s look because that’s how I dress for the most part. Simple, sleek and current.
Yeah I have to agree , Kate’s look gave me grandma vibes although I love the colour on her. I loved her look last year she definately nailed it style wise for me. As for Meghan I liked everything about it except for that ugly purse and the boots over long dress is not for me.
This is completely for PR. She is showing she is a normal mom, despite the nannies and minimal work. I don’t blame her, she has a sweet gig going on. Even Charles, future king has to do PR to show he is a loving father and grandfather, warm and hardworking. I wonder if Meghan will do more, right now it seems as she concentrates through work to show what she wants, ie baking banana bread, getting the leftover cakes for the kids. Time will tell. IMO she is a moot point, the focus is the direct line as far as increase/ decrease/ sustained support for the monarchy, right now she is the new, charismatic, popular addition but i I wonder if the taxpayers are going to continue to support a monarchy as the years pass.
You can always tell when a photo is sanctioned by the presence of Big Blue. If it’s on, then it’s a sanctioned PR exercise. If it’s not, then she was caught unawares and the RPOs will have stepped in to stop the photos and missed one.
I think Kate’s new headband/hat trend is an attempt to look like she is always wearing a tiara.
The Range is more like Walmart. It’s not a posh or middle class shop at all, and they’re sort of known (at least in some areas) for being very rough. I wouldn’t go into one.
Gad-zooks! Who in their right mind would venture into a store like that a couple days before Xmas! Lol! Sheer folly! And with two small children in tow? No way! Mad props to any of you CB’ers who willingly went shopping at Target or Walmart December 23. I haven’t been in my neighborhood Target at all this month. And that is by design. If I was super rich I would send an aide with my shopping list. Or order online for pickup. Does The Range have that? I’m just thinking Kate had lots of options to avoid that scenario if at all possible. She didn’t have to do that and if you didn’t have to why would you? Kate had to know she’d be recognized and photographed. For extra assurance of getting photoed she brought the kids. I vote staged✔️.
Plenty of people would venture into a store like that; THAT’S why they’re crowded!! I’m with Minx way upline: I’d find it harmless even if it was for PR.
Something about Kate’s face is off.. I think Botox in the forehead and frown lines is giving her a serious case of the who’s from whosville look.
Not a Kate fan but did some of the later posters not see the comment earlier that the people living around Sandringham – like the poster – did know where William and Kate shopped regularly and dined out. So this is a regular event for them. Maybe they had just arrived in Norfolk the previous day and she was buying craft stuff for the hols rather than take stuff up from London.
When in the shop, another shopper heard Kate saying “Get up, poppet” to Charlotte when she sat on the floor.
What is “big blue” by the way.