Duchess Kate wore a new Catherine Walker coatdress for Commonwealth Day

Remember the Commonwealth Day service in March 2020? That was before anyone was taking Covid seriously, and no one wore masks and everyone was breathing on everyone else. It was also the last time Prince Harry, Duchess Meghan, Duchess Kate and Prince William were all in a room together. Of course there was drama! Most of the drama was about “positioning” and who would walk where and when, as William, Kate and the Queen all tried to screw over Harry and Meghan one last time. That service was packed, remember? The Wessexes were there, the Queen, some minor royals too.

Well, how the turn tables. This year’s Commonwealth Day service was a lot different. No Harry, no Meghan, no Edward, no Sophie and no Elizabeth. Just the new Fab Four, lol, Prince Charles, Camilla and the Keens. It felt subdued. It felt very old. It felt like they pushed out the most dynamic royals and now the Windsors are just limping along.

Kate wore a new Catherine Walker coatdress, which I’m sure will please Kate’s fans. I actually believe that Kate’s hardcore fans are sort of upset that Kate single-white-females Meghan all of the time now, and that the keen fans “miss” Kate’s fussy, button-slathered coat dresses. This Walker dress had 13 buttons, for those button-counters at home. Four on each cuff and five buttons down the front. Kate likely intended the shade of blue to mimic the blue in Ukraine’s flag. I’ll give her that. What I don’t give her is the idea that she wore several sapphire pieces in honor of Ukraine. She apparently wore the same sapphire pieces when she met President Zelensky in 2020. As for the whole look… she looks like a Edwardian doll.

What else? Camilla, William, Kate and Charles showed some bare-minimum affection. William apparently kissed Camilla’s cheek in greeting, which is being taken as a “sign” that William approves of Future Queen Camilla. Kate looked like she was trying very hard to perform solemnity.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Instar.

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212 Responses to “Duchess Kate wore a new Catherine Walker coatdress for Commonwealth Day”

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  1. milliemollie says:

    Whenever I see Kate, I always think I’ve already seen this look on her before. I could swear she’s worn this before, lol.

    • Kalana says:

      It feels like she copied a Diana look. It’s so dated looking. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Diana wore something that looks like this.

      The color and the cut of this coat is very news anchor from 1993. The color is nice, everything else about is bad. I do like how Kate is clearly feeling herself in such an ugly outfit. Just no sense of style whatsoever.

      • Erin says:

        Totally 90’s. All she needs is some big hair sprayed bangs to complete the look.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        Kate is also wearing a blue dress in the exact same shade under the coat. I saw the dress on another site. Bonkers!

      • Gabby says:

        Erin, at this point I would welcome big sprayed hair and bangs. Purple eyeshadow and heavy liner. Anything to break the boring Kate nothingness.

      • Randie says:

        That is Diana’s pill box hat look. Diana’s was pink. And most of Diana Catherine Walker outfits had slanted pockets. This outfit is so Diana.

      • Nicki says:

        @randie – Didn’t Meghan do a lot of pillbox hats too? It’s a traditional look in black churches, which I always thought Meghan was referencing.

      • Wiglet Watcher says:

        Nicki
        I think Meghan only did one pillbox hat. She didn’t wear it well so thank goodness she hasn’t worn one since.

      • DuchessL says:

        Meghan did pillbox on top of head, kate likes crown lookalike hair accessory/pillbox I find

      • Myjobistoprincess says:

        There is nothing outstanding at all about this blue coatdress other than it is the right color to highlight the Ukrainian’s hell right now. I’m also here to say that this glimpse of Charles’ TRIMMED DOWN MORNARCHY IS BORING AF and Britain should seriously anticipate a lot less tourist traffic with these and have a contingency plan to compensate the loss. LOL

      • Keen Jowls says:

        Diana would of made this hideous outfit look good! Kate has no taste, no charm….she is 40! 40 with those stupid sausage curls! 40 going on 4! I wish someone would chop off sausage curls to her ears. No style! Not polish! She should come with a warning label *what not to look like* I too would be in the rose garden if I had to look at that every day

      • Kathleen Williams says:

        All I saw was KopyKate in the exact shade of blue that Meghan wore to the NAACP awards. Sapphire blue dress surrounded by Black people. Too much!

    • PaulaH says:

      Prince Charles has managed to alienate the majority of his family. Don’t think for a second that Edward/Sophie are not available by choice. Charles didn’t want them in attendance. Talk about BORING! Queen Camilla is the big topic of conversation….how far have they fallen. Charles is clearly in charge. Baldy kissing Camilla and giving her a very small bow of the head was laughable.

    • Probably because Meghan wore a blue dress at her last public event and you know KKKate immediately went out and bought something in the same shade of blue for her next event.

      • swirlmamad says:

        Lol….did not a number of people say the next time we saw ol’ Katie she would be in blue??? So tediously predictable.

      • Ktae says:

        Yep, my last comment on Keen Kate was we would see her in blue with buttons. Thanks for being predictable.

    • Gill says:

      The hat is exactly like Meghans white one from the 2019 ceremony that she was slated for too…now it’s glorious apparently 🤦‍♀️

    • May Bench says:

      Both Kate and Camilla look dowdy. Kate is aging and shows she’s not a happy woman. Baldy looks unhappy also. Charles is corrupt, selling lordships for money for his foundation. Reminds me of Trump.

      I prefer Harry and Meghan, who show their joy and happiness and are much more modern. I don’t ever see Harry cheating on his beautiful wife, that Katey is so jealous of.
      Kate’s dress is just awful. She has no style at all.

    • Tigerlily says:

      I thought the coat dress was a rerun. It’s a pretty color and probably a nod to Ukraine but it’s underwhelming to me. I loved the color of Camilla’s outfit but especially the pansy brooches. They’re gorgeous.

      • Feeshalori says:

        I lust for those pansy brooches, they’re among my favorite of her jewels whether owned or Crown Jewels.

    • Snooze says:

      I don’t mind this. It suits her and she looks confident and happy in it. It’s not my style; but it is at the better end of her style. At least it has clean lines and nice angles and is in a great colour. I like the deeper V on her. Better than all the puff sleeves, lace and 80s secretary stylings!

      Shame she’s such a hollow vessel. I cannot respect this woman because there’s just nothing of substance there.

      This Commonwealth Day thing is hilarious. Is it actually supposed to have meaning to those of us in the Commonwealth? I’d never even heard of it before Meghan started attending. It has zero meaning and does nothing. Pure performative lip service. Wouldn’t it be more effective to do a festival with arts and speakers and goods from the Commonwealth? The UK putting some funding into the Commonwealth and shoring up relationships via respect for our cultures and outputs?

      • Dollycoa says:

        The Commonwealth is just Empire cos play for the Royals. I’m not sure what Commonwealth countries even get out of it, or even Britain as a whole. The Commonwealth didn’t have any influence over Pakistan, India or South Africa abstaining over Russian sanctions or doing deals with Russia. Seems to me its only the Royals who benefit from it because they can pretend they are important world leaders.

  2. Cel2495 says:

    Lol… that little girl unimpressive face is all of us.

    • Erin says:

      Yes, and none of those kids are looking at her, it’s pretty funny.

      Do not like the coat dress or that hat. The length, the shoulder pads that she’s been obsessed with lately, it ages her. I am her age and I wouldn’t even look at that twice but I guess that’s always been her style and I’ll never understand it.

      • Jillian says:

        My 72 year old mother wouldn’t wear something as dowdy and old as Kate’s coat dress. I don’t know any woman, even senior citizens, that would ever wear something so intensely unfashionable. Kate is so weird.

      • Babz says:

        The color is good, I’ll give her that. And it may be the cut of the coat, or the camera angles, but I swear she’s lost even more weight. To me, she looks downright gaunt. Separated or not, the tension in her life must be so high, you could cut it with a knife.

  3. cabooklover says:

    I’ve always wondered, what does one wear under a coatdress? Is it a coat with clothing under it? Or a dress?

    • BABSORIG says:

      LOL, and it’s a blue coat dress, diffent shades of blue on collar and dress, and to crown it all, a pillbox,. 😁😆😅LOL, Khate is do predictable.

    • Becks1 says:

      She does usually wear something under it but its usually something thin and when she is wearing a “coatdress” she never takes the coatdress off. A lot of times she wears something that is not technically a coatdress but she still doesn’t take it off so it functions the same. Here, when she is bending over to talk to the child outside, you can see a glimpse of what she is wearing underneath (in the same color as the coat) at her knees.

      • cabooklover says:

        Thank you!

        Someone mentioned the shoulder pads making her look like a triangle and, now, I can’t unsee it! 😂

      • Jan90067 says:

        Shoulder pads were started as a “power move”, to immitate mens’ suits, and also to “balance out” women’s hips. As Keen hasn’t any hips, she looks triangular. Usually female swimmers have the wider shoulders and the “tapered V” shape (think Charlene of Monaco).

        Kopy Keen has wide shoulders, an elongated torso, and very slim hips. At least when she wore peplum outfits, it gave her a semblance of a shape.

      • BothSidesNow says:

        At the piano recital at Christmas, she wore red. Now everyone will be saying blue is her color! She must have every CW coat dress in every shade at this point! The more buttons the better! So predictable and boring…..

        I can’t think of anyone that would wear the crap she wears. She was all smiles walking in but her face of doom came into the building, walking next to Camilla. I bet Sophie begged Baldimort for an invitation!

    • SarahCS says:

      I always wonder. The way this outfit in particular is styled suggests nothing which is an interesting choice for FFQ but then again after what we’ve seen of her over the years maybe not a surprise.

      Either way it’s ugly and looks bad on her. Totally agree with the 90’s news anchor comments further up.

    • February Pisces says:

      She wears nothing underneath! She goes commando so when a gust of wind blows her coat up she can flash everyone, 😂

      • goofpuff says:

        Based on previous evidence of her doing so repeatedly, I can totally believe that 🙂

  4. Becks1 says:

    I like the color. As for the rest of it….meh. I can’t look at pictures of her from this event without remembering her rudeness and bitchiness from two years ago and wondering what she was really like behind the scenes to Meghan.

    I am rolling my eyes though that she got a new coatdress for this event. the blue for Ukraine is nice, but you know what also would have been nice? Not getting a new coatdress and making a donation like her ILs did. How many coatdresses does she have at this point anyway??

    • L84Tea says:

      I was coming here to say that I like the color and not much else. The coat looks like every other coat in her closet and the hat looks…babyish? I don’t know, but there’s something very little girlish and juvenile about that style of hats worn that way, to me anyway. I wasn’t wild about the look when Meghan did it that one time either. Camilla looks good in the color purple, as usual.

      • swirlmamad says:

        Hated that hat style when Meghan wore it and I hate it on Kate too. Difference is, Meghan wore it to try to blend and “fit” in, while Kate is wearing it because she actually thinks it looks good. It’s so unflattering in my opinion.

      • Becks1 says:

        We’ve seen Kate wear this hat style before and I am just not a fan. If you look back at the christmas pics from 2018, she is wearing almost this identical coatdress (but it doesn’t have the v-neck collar) and hat, only in red.

      • BeanieBean says:

        I will forever associate the pillbox hat with Jacqueline Kennedy.

      • L84Tea says:

        I’ll give Jackie a pass because it was a different decade and the style of clothing was very different–the hats just worked better with all her little Oleg Cassini suits. She also looked good in those pillbox hats because of her cute 60’s bouffant hairstyle. I think hairstyle has a lot to do with making those hats work. Even Diana pulled them off better because her hair was shorter. But Kate with her long sausage curls looks like a little girl who raided her mom’s closet and is playing dress-up. She looks silly!

      • swirlmamad says:

        Somehow Jackie Kennedy was the only woman who was able to pull off the pillbox hat. It’s a hard look to pull off and Kate DEFINITELY doesn’t have the pizzazz to make it work.

    • Layla says:

      @becks1!! Don’t you know how that’s the best that can be offered?! Coat dresses and smiles and rainbows and sunshines.
      As for their bitchiness and rudeness, we’ll they wanted the spotlight all to themselves didn’t they? Poor souls were being ignored. Now no one is watching them they can deal with

    • Nic919 says:

      Yes and she is not honouring Ukraine by wearing the sapphire set that goes with big blue. It’s insane that they claim these things. Wearing jewels does sweet fuck all for the people of Ukraine.

      • TigerMcQueen says:

        She was totally wearing the sapphires to remind people she’s Mrs. Princess Diana’s Son William’s Wife. Diana is STILL one of the few people that makes those grifters halfway relevant.

      • Chaine says:

        @TigerMcQueen, so true! By this point in Kate’s princess-hood, she should have made some jewelry of her own iconic. Instead, she is still riding on her deceased mother-in-law’s engagement ring, and she would not even have had that if Diana were still alive!

      • Mrs.Krabapple says:

        The bar is set so low that Kate gets praise just for wearing jewelry. (Like the time the tabloids said she was “honoring the Queen” by wearing royal jewels). It’s just unbelievable to me how a whole country (at least, the monarchists) can continue to suck up to someone like this? Have they no self-respect, that they think someone is “above” them because of happenstance of birth (or marrying him)? It just baffles me, as an American.

      • Christine says:

        I am really, genuinely curious at this point. What will it take to make Cannot and Willnot actually WORK? Do they have internet access? Do they see how ridiculous they both look?

        Listen, I get it must be a drag to be compared to Harry and Meghan, who are professionals….but…the obvious answer is to become actual working royals, not lazy welfare recipients. Neither of them seem inclined to recognize this.

    • AnnaKist says:

      Hi Becks1.
      I think at last count, kate’scoatdress tally was 327, so this bespoke piece will make it 328. This explains why a lot of us feel we’ve seen it before. I mean, apart from less or more (!) buttons, pockets and flaps, what else could a dowdy coat dress offer?

      Okay, fine. I just made those numbers up. 🙃

      • L84Tea says:

        That number could totally be accurate. I wish someone could go back and do an actual count.

      • Becks1 says:

        Give me time people. At some point I’ll get bored enough at work and I’ll fall on the sword and do it.

      • Lorelei says:

        There’s someone who has been keeping track specifically of how many blue coat dresses Kate has (can’t remember if I saw it here or on Twitter) and the last time it was posted, which was a while ago, they numbered in the 30’s or 40’s. Just the blue ones!! She is ridiculous.

  5. Colby says:

    I think we don’t mention enough here how her coat dress shoulder pads always maker her look so triangle shaped because she lacks any natural curves. Honestly it bugs me more than the buttons.

    • OriginalLala says:

      I think she likes that severe triangle shape because it emphasizes her thinness.
      I see the photographers are photoshopping her pics again, her face is smooth and doesn’t look like it’s melting like it did a few weeks ago

      • Jais says:

        Didn’t they say that they were going to have fewer photographers at events? Has that started? Was it just going to be at Kate events?

      • swirlmamad says:

        I saw that Chris Jackson took a lot of the photos. Enough said.

      • Kalana says:

        Chris Jackson photoshopped the hell out of those photos. Let the woman age a little. We all know she doesn’t look like that.

      • Harper says:

        The higher up the royal totem pole Kate goes, the more events she will attend where guffawing and hyena-ing will not be regal. But those expressions hide the true state of her droop face, and she relies on laughing for good pics. What to do? Cut out access to photographers that will not play her photoshop game. Notice the article about having fewer photographers at Kate events came right after the Denmark trip, where that tragic-but-true un-photoshopped pic by a Dane managed to get out? They tried to spin the reduction in photographers by saying it would make for a less frenetic environment for shy Kate to go solo in. But they were just hiding the fact that she probably blew up when she saw that Denmark photo and said it’s Chris Jackson only or I have babysitter problems and don’t show up.

      • TIFFANY says:

        Yes on the photoshop.

        Hands don’t lie and it is amazing that they ignore those when they do alter these photos.

      • Jais says:

        @harper- “it’s Chris Jackson only or I have babysitter problems and don’t show up” is such a very real possibility that I can literally see that being said.

  6. luna says:

    She looks thinner than ever. For a woman her height, she must be trying hard to gain a little bit weight.

  7. teehee says:

    I mean, she can rock that color. I cant wear royal or vivid blue at all, so Shes good with basic colors– basic red, basic blue– things that a lot of people cant wear.
    And thats the nicest thing I have to say 😀

  8. Linney says:

    Why is Kate wearing a bizarre bathrobe? Honestly, how can anyone think she is a clothing role model? I don’t know anyone who would want to emulate that look! And despite the major photoshop that goes on with Kate, you can tell from these pictures that this amazing woman with the flawless/glowing complexion looks years older than her husband.

  9. BrainFog 💉💉💉😷 says:

    Love the colour!

  10. Layla says:

    Has anyone noticed how she’ll now often be seen carrying leather gloves?
    The copykeening is deliberate. She’ll take different aspects of Meghan’s style at different times and then go way over the top with it so that all anyone remembers is that she “did it first”
    Also, notice how unabashedly unapologetic incandescent was? The future future king of a diverse “kingdom” does not give a sh*t that two days ago, he was trending on Twitter and everyone was talking about him for all the wrong reason. My God these people are so full of themselves.
    Also, the pillbox makes her look like a nurse. Would’ve been better if the coat dress was shorter

    • Amy Bee says:

      Kate is the Queen of cosplay but carrying a pair of gloves is not a new thing for Royals. It’s traditional as all royal women do it but people only noticed when Meghan was doing it.

      • Layla says:

        I was supposed to ask but I forgot, does anyone remember Keeny carrying them specifically cuz I don’t?

      • Amy Bee says:

        Yeah, she has. Camilla too.

      • Becks1 says:

        I don’t know how often we have seen Kate carrying gloves, but we have seen Anne and Camilla do it – it makes sense, if they’re outside greeting people and shaking hands and its cold they’ll probably wear gloves and then carry them around inside. I’m not heading over to WKW to check for every event of Kate in the winter, lol.

      • Jan90067 says:

        Keen NEVER carried gloves until Meg came on the scene and started to do it. I always think of the Christening, with Meg in that fabulous olive colored outfit, holding the clutch and gloves.

      • Becks1 says:

        Nah. I googled and found a picture of Kate carrying gloves, it looks like 2012ish based on the hair (those bangs she had when she was pregnant with George.) And there were a few others. There weren’t a ton, to be sure, she seemed to wear them mostly, but there were a few.

    • ohrhilly says:

      I noticed that too. CP Mary and Queen Maxima either carry or wear gloves regularly.

  11. Kalana says:

    It’s funny to me that before Meghan, William and Kate couldn’t be bothered to attend the Commonwealth Service. Now they’re desperate to attend because they feel like its a win over the Sussexes but ultimately we know they didn’t care about the ceremony and were bored.

    And William hogged the umbrella again.

    • Emily says:

      Have they ever *not* attended?

      • Kalana says:

        In 2017, William was off partying in Switzerland. Kate didn’t bother going without him.

      • Becks1 says:

        I think they missed twice. Once they were on a skiing vacation together and once William was dad-dancing (this was before H&M announced their engagement so the press was still calling out the Cambridges for their laziness.)

    • Eurydice says:

      I don’t think they’re desperate to attend – I think they were forced to attend. They still can’t be bothered, but with the new “slimmed down monarchy” there’s nobody else left.

      • Kalana says:

        I think they’re desperate for the photo-op of attending something that Meghan and Harry used to do as well.

  12. rawiya says:

    Baldilocks walked out with an umbrella and didn’t bother making sure Keen was kovered. So, there are photos with him dry under the umbrella and her smiling stupidly getting wet. What a marriage.

    • equality says:

      I guess, he is not going to let her get that umbrella photo like H&M.

    • BabsORIG says:

      Why doesn’t KKKHate ever bring an umbrella of her own? That stupidity is on her, c’mon. She knows William doesn’t like her and he never shares anything with her, why does she think he’s gonna give up his own comfort for her? She is the stupid one, and whatever happens to her because of her stupidity is very well deserved.

  13. Amy Bee says:

    Oh yes, the stans were longing for Kate to wear a coat dress again. But this dress is almost identical to the dress she wore to COP26. She could have worn that one instead of buying a new one.

  14. T3PO says:

    Camilla looks like a Harry Potter witch pretending to be a muggle walking to work. That purple is a lot.

    • Kalana says:

      That hat was hideous! Camilla definitely goes for the dusty, dotty old aunt look.

      • MsIam says:

        @Kalana I was just going to say she reminds me of Aunt Clara from the old Bewitched show. Of course Clara was lovable unlike QC Cruella.

    • Angie says:

      Omg the way I snorted. Hilarious description 😂😂😂

    • BabsORIG says:

      Camilla and everything about her is hideous. She is not a nice person on the inside and it shows on the outside too.

    • notasugarhere says:

      At least Camilla rewore an outfit she’s used many times before, instead of wasting thousands on yet another new Diana cosplay coatdress as Kate did.

    • Lorelei says:

      @T3PO this is a hysterical description!! 😭

  15. Chaine says:

    Despite the bright color, the overall look is severe and aging.

  16. Tbonesmum says:

    I am sorry but to me she looks miserable and dare I say medicated? Like she is off with the pixies. Karma is a bitch.

  17. Jan says:

    There is a picture of Cain holding an umbrella over himself and Unable is 1/4 under it, something tampon did to his mother.
    Harry amazes me with his manners, did they spend all the time teaching Cain about being a King and no basic manners.

  18. Miranda says:

    Do we know for a fact that it was her intention to honor Ukraine with this look? Because for the life of me, it just looks like another bland column of solid color with too many buttons and the most unimaginative accessories available to her. Are there no yellow sapphires/diamonds in the royal collection?

    I think the jewelry choices of the royal ladies annoy me more than anything else about their style. I’ve read, though I don’t know if it’s true, that they dress in one color head-to-toe for security purposes, which, OK, but why do they never use their jewelry to add a pop of contrast?

    • Jay says:

      Since this does appear to be new, I’m skeptical about whether that was her plan, too. It would depend on the lead time.

      I’d be more likely to believe it’s symbolic if she had chosen one of the many deep blue coats/ coatdresses she already owns. Or a designer with a connection to Ukraine, even for an accessory.

    • SAS says:

      I think people are reaching if they think it’s a Ukraine tribute. The blue is a different colour.

      It’s a tribute to her sapphires. And the pillbox is too big.

    • BabsORIG says:

      Naahhh, this blue coat dress has got absolutely nothing to do with honoring Ukrine but everything to do with competing with Meghan’s look of the NAACP event. She trynna show that she looks better in blue than Meghan. KKKHate’s Karenism knows no bounds.

    • Nic919 says:

      The blue is a royal blue and similar to other dresses she’s worn in the past. The blue from the Ukraine flag is a lighter blue. Kate was cosplaying Diana if anything.

    • AmelieOriginal says:

      I doubt this blue is for Ukraine. Kate and William did the requisite Ukraine event by going to the Ukrainian Cultural Center place and Kate wore a blue sweater there. They also put out a statement about the war. They did the bare minimum.

      I bet you this was the outfit she planned to wear to Commonwealth 2021 and it got canceled due to covid. So she is wearing the outfit she meant to wear last year. The blue color and the jewels she wore when she met President Zelenskyy and his wife is a total coincidence.

    • Lorelei says:

      @Miranda, the moment I saw it, I thought that she knew it was supposed to rain that day, and purposely wore blue in what is now her lifelong quest to recreate THE umbrella photo. But who knows. And either way, Bill refused to be under the same umbrella as Kate anyway, so her efforts were wasted.

    • C says:

      The necklace and earring set is the same one she wore to meet Zelensky and his wife with William but other than that, no. And I fail to see what good it’s supposed to do.

  19. equality says:

    I think they are all copying the Queen now-one color theme and a coat dress or coat that you don’t remove. Is it the new royal “protocol” or both trying to proclaim they are the future queen?

    • Becks1 says:

      ?? That’s been a thing for both Camilla and Kate for years. Camilla actually wears more dresses and functional coats than Kate for everyday events (Kate tends to wear coatdresses way more than Camilla), but for events like this coatdresses have been pretty typical for both for years. Camilla has definitely worn this coatdress (and I think this hat) before. Kate also usually matches her hat to her coatdress if the coatdress is a solid color.

      • notasugarhere says:

        The coatdress is older, cannot remember from when. The hat is from at least 2012 because she wore it at an event with CP Mary. I remember because Mary wore one of her (IMO) best hats – asymmetical cream with wide black band. I didn’t like Mary’s cream coatdress that day, badly-placed inverted pleats, but that cream hat is gorgeous.

    • BeanieBean says:

      But the queen frequently will wear a flower print dress underneath her coat; these two don’t do anything remotely interesting, although I’d say Kate is the least stylish famous person I’ve ever seen. And I always laugh when her royal sycophants (aka, the rota) try to tell us she’s so artistic & creative because of that degree in art HISTORY. She hasn’t got a creative bone in her body & it’s very evident with how she chooses to present herself to the world. Boring boring boring.

  20. Ginger says:

    Camilla looks ridiculous. From the pics and videos I have seen from this event, it looked incredibly boring. These are the royals they are stuck with.

  21. Beech says:

    I remember when Jacqueline Kennedy wore pill box hats. Her wardrobe comprised clean lines, beautiful fabrics and color. No buttons or calico. She looked sophisticated and an adult woman of the world. And was younger than this Confederate belle.

  22. Jay says:

    Yeah, if you showed future me this photo of Kate, I wouldn’t be able to date it. 2003? 1983? I guess that’s a positive if you are a royal.

    To me, it’s the fabric that lets her down the most here. A nice shade of blue, but it’s too thin to drape well. Almost cheap- looking? Although I’m sure it wasn’t cheap. And since we know she has multiple coatdresses, even in this very shade, it highlights the waste of getting a new one.

    As for William greeting Camilla with a peck on the cheek – turns out he is perfectly capable of greeting certain members of his family with the minimum of politeness if he has to. What a refreshing revelation. Pity he couldn’t muster it two years ago.

    I believe he is desperate to change the conversation from his comments about Ukraine last week.

    • SAS says:

      It’s also tailored way too close to drape well, like most of her recent stuff. I thought the same even with her casual visit- that sweater and pants easily could have sized up and still been flattering and modern.

      It doesn’t matter how slim you are, ill-fitting is ill-fitting and smaller is not always better/more flattering.

  23. Lady Esther says:

    So we’re back to the twirly girly hair and little-girl hat (I hate pillbox hats, so may be biased). The shot from the back in the DM with her sausage curls underneath the hat looked like it could be from a six year old. I’ve no issue with the rest of the outfit other than the fact that she could have easily reworn one of her thousand other coatdresses…sigh

  24. TeamAwesome says:

    Nah, this is the blue from the Commonwealth flag. And any excuse to get out Big Blue’s pals works for Kate.
    I saw some of the umbrella pics and figured Chris Jackson had marching orders to try to get a shot like the iconic M & H one, but cue the sad trombone music.

  25. girl_ninja says:

    They all look awful, sullen, sunken in and washed out. Blech.

  26. Rapunzel says:

    The page six photos are photoshopped to hell and back. This blue is to show off the ring. Edward/Sophie not being there is weird, imo. That’s all I got.

    • Jaded says:

      Sophie’s swanning around New York right now doing…something…and Edward’s probably got his feet up on the coffee table drinking beer and watching footie.

  27. AVEA says:

    Pretty color, but she should have been a brave little keen Duchess and ditched those buttons at the front. Too many and it looks weird and puckery at some angles

  28. The Duchess says:

    God, this new coatdress really does expose how tiny her waist is. What a life.

  29. Mia1066 says:

    It’s a very 1987 look, the length, shape everything. Including the hat. It’s truly such an old look on her. I’m 22 years her senior and I wouldn’t wear that at all. Why does she wear things so long? I don’t get it. Her coat dresses used to be regular length now they’re ankle sister wife length. Weird.

    The Fail were in performative ecstacy! So many close ups of the kisses, her face about 5 times, her hair it was crazy.

    • Jais says:

      Agree about the length. The overall feeling of longness feels like a visual hyperbole, as if she’s being stretched longer and longer, beyond all reality. I just keep imagining her as a cartoon stretching into thin taffy and floating away.

      • Mia1066 says:

        Yes the length feels emotional rather than fashion related. It’s very deliberate.

      • gah says:

        the length is soooo weird. most stylists understand the importance of proportion for their clients but her team is just terrible (incompetent) and constantly emphasize her not ideal proportions (long torso, shorter legs, broad shoulders, no hips). I don’t get it.

  30. Red Weather Tiger says:

    In the still pictures where W&K are greeting C&C, the older royals look none too happy. Charles looks downright miffed. And Cams in her “I’m Gonna Be Queen, Bitches!” Purple…so thirsty. She’s looking rough.

    Kate’s hair looked tidy under her hat, which was a plus, but the poster above was right—she looked like an old-timey nurse. And her beloved, racist Incandescent did not GAF about her getting wet. That’s love and honor in the BRF.

    • Lorelei says:

      @RedWeatherTiger, I didn’t look at all of the photos, but I did look at a bunch, and Charles looked extremely unhappy in alllllll of them. I couldn’t find one single picture in which he didn’t look upset or worried or angry or…something. I realize it’s a somber service, but something seemed up with him.

  31. Ameerah says:

    You know what…I don’t hate the dress. It would actually be pretty to me IF she didn’t dress like this all the time and have 5,000 other similar dresses.

    • YaGotMe says:

      yea, I don’t hate it either. It would be too stuffy for any other engagement, but for the “Royal” shit they are supposed to do, it doesn’t suck. Pretty colors, I like the weird angle of the pockets, I think she’s trying to do more midi lengths because that’s a thing at the moment. The hat is kind of meh but it matches well. I don’t know where the hell else you’d ever wear it though.

  32. Steph says:

    I almost like this coat dress? Many, many years ago when @kaiser started (she may have been covering the Royals here before then but I wasn’t interested until close to the wedding) I commented that I couldn’t understand the coat dresses. It was way too old for Kate then. I kinda got ripped lol. This one actually has some flare to it and seems age appropriate. It doesn’t fit her well though but I think that’s bc she is so skinny. It’s not a bad piece though.

    • SourcesclosetoKate says:

      I think Kate wears coatdresses because of the thicker material, that way she gets away with being unnaturally skinny without people calling her on it, as opposed to wearing materials like say silk.

    • Becks1 says:

      I think the coat dresses are appropriate for a very specific set of royal/formal engagements, like this – where she wants to be warm and doesn’t want to deal with wearing a coat and then taking it off in the Abbey etc (or maybe wants to keep it on at the abbey if its cold) and still wants to look polished and like she’s not quite wearing a coat. So for the commonwealth service and other similar events – coat dresses are fine. It’s weird that she tries to cosplay her dead MIL with them, but they’re still fine overall. Boring but fine. Maybe a little dated (is every woman there wearing a coat dress?) but fine.

      but its when the coatdresses spill over into all her royal events that they get REALLY boring and dated etc.

  33. C says:

    In blue, as usual, to match Big Blue (absolutely nothing to do with Ukraine, it’s obvious).

    Her engagement announcement with William in the blue dress was the high point of her life so she’s going to be cosplaying herself as that forever, with slight variations – when she isn’t stalking Meghan. Maybe it’s a message to him too.

  34. Lauren Too says:

    I like that shade of blue. That’s all I have.

  35. Lemons says:

    We know that this woman has no style. I have no serious qualms with the coatdress and hat. But the shoes with this ensemble do NOT match. And I’m sorry, but if you’re going to spend $$$ on custom bespoke coat dresses, please make sure you spend some money on finding the shoes to go with them. Get some bespoke heels to match the coat. It’s so simple. Even ask Catherine Walker to send one of her assistants to find pumps in the same color. I just can’t with these people.

    The kids were not impressed probably wondering why they had to miss out on H&M this year.

    • Dee says:

      My first thought was the hat was weirdly perched and the shoes don’t go. Always the terrible styling with this person.

  36. HeyKay says:

    Like the bright blue color.
    What is that huge draped burgundy cape/coat/wizards cloak Camilla is wearing?
    Heck, no.

  37. WiththeAmerican says:

    Why does she have no style? The Queen wore her dresses a little shorter than this at Kate’s age.

    These four are so boring. They got what they wanted. And eventually the BP will get bored fawning over middle aged lazy royals and they will wish they hadn’t driven H and M out, because royals always need a scapegoat.

    • Lorelei says:

      @WithTheAmerican, oh, I think they’re already very bored, and have been for a while now…it’s just a matter of how long it takes for them to get frustrated enough to turn on Bill.

  38. Slippers4life says:

    If she was a nice person, I’d like the coat. I love the colour. Never been a fan of pill box hats. What I find most offensive, is this obvious attempt at using BIPOC people, children at that, as props! Notice how she’s not just accepting flowers from a cute little kid these days? She’s accepting flowers from cute little BIPOC kids and, hey, if there was always diversity in the children they chose to give the flowers and they hadn’t exiled the only members of colour in their family and they didn’t come from a colonial history (and hoping for a colonial future) and weren’t very much a racist family, I might not see this as the performative intention that it is.

    • DaniLakes says:

      Thank you! I find it interesting that nobody else in this usually very astute group of commentors seems to have noticed this.

      • Becks1 says:

        Oh no, I think most people noticed it. It was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the pics. But its so performative and expected at this point. The royals get accused of racism, they stage some photo ops.

      • Deering24 says:

        Shoot, by now someone could make a hefty coffee table tome of Kate posing with BIPOC children.

    • Lorelei says:

      I actually think it makes her look worse, more try-hard and fake, since we all saw her IGNORE HER NEWBORN NEPHEW. She will stop and coo at any and every baby she passes on the street, but she didn’t even appear to so much as glance over at Archie. So now she thinks that if she’s pictured with children of color, it’s proof that she’s not racist. I really do think she’s that much of a simpleton; that she thinks all it takes are some photos with POC and she’s good.

  39. ABritGuest says:

    That blue is a great colour on Kate & she looked very pretty but that outfit was giving air stewardess vibes.

    The line up of working royals is pretty dull. No wonder Meghan’s arrival brought so much international attention. it’s gonna be a sparse few years for the royal press with that lot once Elizabeth passes until the kids get interesting.

  40. Cessily says:

    Wonder if she expects a thank you from Ukraine for wearing hundreds of thousands in jewelry in there honor?.. sure it was just what they needed along with their smiles🙄
    It was like watching C and K preen like peacocks who got what they wanted.

    • Bea says:

      I hate these coat dresses. It looks dated and boring…

      • Cessily says:

        She must have them made special because they have been out of style for decades. I agree very dated and boring look. I’m sure she will have an entirely new wardrobe for the “listen and learn” tour.

      • Lorelei says:

        @Cessily, she usually does have them custom made, or at least has current styles altered beyond recognition, which is one more thing I cannot understand about her.

        Back when she used to wear more off-the-rack clothing, there would be *tons* of headlines about how quickly anything she wore sold out, and “The Kate Effect” was born. I’m not necessarily expecting her to keep wearing Whistles or Monsoon or whatever as she ages, but if she kept wearing clothing from slightly-higher-end-but-still-affordable-to-the-peasants stores, like LK Bennett and Reiss, she would one million headlines the next day, making it look like every woman wanted to copy her style. Such an easy win.

        Instead, she started wearing more custom Emilia Wickstead or Catherine Walker, as well as older styles from high street stores that weren’t being sold anymore, seemingly to prevent people from copying her. So, I guess she succeeded at…whatever her goal was here? But she would have continued to get SUCH fawning press about what a fashion icon she was if she’d kept doing exactly what she was doing in the earlier years of her marriage.

        Both she and William can always be counted on to do the exact wrong and stupidest thing in any situation.

      • Becks1 says:

        She does usually have them custom made but the average person can still buy something similar, Catherine Walker has a whole section of coatdresses on her website and you can really tell which ones Kate has worn, even if she had them tweaked a bit or different colors etc. WKW used to be very good about taking a “bespoke” coatdress of Kate’s and breaking down which retail items it came from.

        https://www.catherinewalker.com/category/coatdresses/

        @Lorelei I don’t think she wants people to copy her style, I think she really wants to be like the Queen, who has this set style that she has worn for decades and that’s it, but the problem is that Kate can’t decide on that set style (for the queen, a patterned dress, and then a bright color coat and hat on top unless its a somber occasion). and because the Queen always does dress the same, at this point in time, the focus really isn’t on her clothes. But Kate wants the focus on her clothes and she wants the good press that Meghan gets for her clothes and she likes stories about “the Kate effect” but then she also wants to be seen as consistent and with a set classic style (like a coatdress) etc…..

        It’s back to the same old thing we’ve been talking about, Kate doesn’t really have a sense of style OR a sense of who she actually is or wants to be in public so we get this mishmash of Meghan, the Queen, and Diana.

    • Cessily says:

      @lorelei
      Thank you for the history that is interesting. I haven’t seen people wearing them for a long time. I have a similarly styled coat dress in my closet, but it was from the late 90’s.

  41. Jeanne says:

    all those photos and i couldn’t find one where william was actually looking at kate. it’s kind of creepy how he avoids it.

    • SueBarbri says:

      William never looks at anybody! It’s very strange! He always comes across as a sullen, petulant teenager, despite the fact that he is now nearly 40, the FFK, and father to three children.

      When I started royal watching back in the 90s, I assumed it was because he was going through his teenage years or something like that, but….no. I think he’s just checked out and mean.

      So…is there any real information about why Sophie and Edward weren’t at this event? I see she was in NYC at the UN and meeting people of color in leather pants(lol), but…where was he? They’ve already slimmed down to the “Fab 4,” I suppose. I’m no fan of the Wessex gang, but I don’t see any real reason to exclude them from events like this. Where’s Lady Louise? I’m all for keeping her out of the spotlight, but wasn’t there a push to bring her forward last year? Why wasn’t she there yesterday? She’s old enough to attend, and young enough to look like a fresh face (which they desperately need in this family). Aren’t Sophie and Edward going to the Caribbean on behalf of the Queen in a few months?

      • notasugarhere says:

        Lady Louise is not a working royal, is never going to be a working royal, so Charles isn’t going to have her trotted out for a Commonwealth event as a (pretend) working royal. Sophie is in NYC for four days, no idea where Eddie is. E&S go in one month, 22-28 April. Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

      • Jan90067 says:

        He rarely makes extended eye contact either. Wonder if he’s on the Autism scale? Would explain some of his inabilities/uncomfortableness with social interactions with people.

      • Jaded says:

        Sophie’s in New York right now so I guess Edward just thought he’d stay home in his jammies watching telly.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        Does Edward do any work on his own? It seems to be he is never seen unless he is with Sophie.

      • Wiglet Watcher says:

        Jan
        I rarely make eye contact. I’m just trying to avoid people. William could easily be the same as he lives his life in avoidance of many things.
        I don’t believe it’s anything other than that.
        To say autism is to excuse more terrible behaviors from these grown adults that refuse their roles, but not the perks in their lives.

      • notasugarhere says:

        Edward does 250-300 solo engagements most years.

    • Iz_Q says:

      There are a few photos where they are actually smiling. But I swear photos of William smiling make him look like a demented chipmunk.

      • Jan90067 says:

        BB does not “smile”. It’s more of a baring of those beaver teeth. It never seems to reach his eyes, either.

        He seems to have a very small mouth, with very large teeth.

      • BayTampaBay says:

        @Jan90067 – Which is why BB has earned the well deserved nickname ‘Horse Teeth the Bald”.

  42. Pity says:

    I like the color of the dress and I would rather have her keep wearing the coat dresses.
    The cosplaying of Meghan especially after what she did to her drives me crazy. I really do wonder what her fans feel because there is no way they don’t notice it.
    Where are the articles thanking Meghan for helping change Kates style? We got so many saying Meghan broke protocol blah blah.

  43. Pinkosaurus says:

    I like Camilla’s purple hat. I think it’s bonkers with that size and the excessive trim- how often do you see something on a 70-ish royal that Prince or Lil Nas X could have carried?

  44. Eurydice says:

    Three things:

    There must be a better way to add width to the hip area that tacking on giant mud flaps.

    What a stale and boring bunch – not a scrap of energy or vigor among them. Just “we’re here because we’re here.”

    Meghan must be happy that never again will she have to wear a stupid hat.

    • molly says:

      If these four are the future of the monarchy, they’re going to have to get A LOT more interesting if they want people to get excited about them.

  45. Sue says:

    The color is nice on her. But she is swimming in an already extra small dress.

  46. Chrissy says:

    Did anyone else notice the token black children the Dull Wannabes were greeting on leaving? SMH

  47. SourcesclosetoKate says:

    What an annoying bunch

  48. LittlePenguin says:

    KEEN BUTTON KOUNT ALERT! (I love that you counted them for us @Kaiser)

    My Mom loves this kind of clothing on Kate. And sausage curls.

    I like the colour of the coat, that’s about all I have. It’s boring. And ages her and my funeral dress has more personality.

  49. SnarcasmQueen says:

    This thing is ugly and old and it would have been ugly and old in the 80s too.

    And that hat was ugly and old when Meghan wore it in white.

  50. Over it says:

    Yes I know I shouldn’t be policing womens bodies but if the camera is supposed to add 10 pounds, can you imagine what she must look like in person without the coat? Because right now she is swimming in that one. And all i will ever be able to think about and see every time they do the commonwealth service, is Kate resting bitch face and sophie pretending like Meghan doesn’t exist. So I wish them all a lifetime of misery for what they put Harry and Meghan through

    • Andrea says:

      The thing that saddens me is she is in the public eye and thus an example to young women. I have a girlfirend who is blatantly anorexic who looks to women like Kate as role models aesthetically speaking thinnesswise. My friend has phobias with eating front of others and at parties etc. She now is having major trouble getting pregant due to her years of anorexia. It is something we don’t discuss enough because eating disorders can have serious consequences long term.

    • M says:

      My close mate met Kate when she came in to the store she used to work at. She said she was unbelievably thin. This was also before I followed royals and she was the one who told me that her photos are definitely airbrushed because Kate looked nothing like her pictures in the sense that she looked pretty rough and apparently has bad skin in person. My friend likes Kate too but she was shocked by how she actually looks.

      • Jaded says:

        I saw her once from across the road when the Cambridges came to Victoria where I live. She looked like a scrawny pipe-cleaner and much older in person. Photoshop is her friend. I find it triggering because my sister died of complications from eating disorders, but I can’t find it in my heart to feel sorry for Kate because she was so vile to Meghan.

  51. Likeyoucare says:

    Poor sophie,
    She really worked hard to snub and mean girl to harry and meghan on that last commonwealth day.
    She didnt get an invite this year. Poor poor sophie.

    • SueBarbri says:

      This! Sophie and Edward worked so hard to get in with W&K, and neither of them were invited to the big Commonwealth Shindig of 2022? They even pretended not to know who Oprah was, and this is the thanks they get?! LOL.

  52. Lala says:

    This looks like something Melanie Griffith would have passed over in Sigourney Weaver’s closet in Working Girl.

  53. Iz_Q says:

    OMG…1985 called…they want their fashion back! Why does she insist on looking like a Mary Poppins stand in! Just stop trying to copy everyone else and get some identity of her own. I read someone said she darkened her hair it seems? It does look darker…like CP Mary brunette. She is so busy trying to be the old type of royal woman that she didn’t realize that her peers run circles around her in every way.

  54. MerlinsMom1018 says:

    Blue is not my favorite color, but that blue is absolutely beautiful and IMO Kate looks really good and appropriately age dressed and if she would do that more often.

    • Fleur says:

      I agree; I hate almost all of her style choices but I like this shade of blue and the drapery cut. I can even endure the buttons. It is old fashioned, but that’s on trend right now, and she’s 40, not 25, so I don’t have a problem with it.

      She does look deeply unhappy. I keep thinking that she must have a pretty terrible life and a terrible dynamic with William because even Megan Markle treated Kate gently in the Oprah interview, despite how terribly Kate treated Megan in return.

    • Haylie says:

      She’s 40, not 400. This is dowdy for her age.

  55. Kyre says:

    The coat dresses are the Kate cosplaying the queen. She decided very early in her marriage (or earlier!) that her life long ‘look’ as princess and queen would be an ode to QEII. Betsy has suits in every color on earth. Kate hopes by the time she is finally queen she too will own 250 of the same thing in every color.

    • Lorelei says:

      But did Betsy start wearing them constantly when she was in her early 30’s? That’s the part Kate seems to ignore.

  56. dido says:

    LOL the kids in the last photo. THAT is truly the mood whenever any kid has to be around her. No matter what she wears, I will always remember the petulant way they treated Meghan and Harry at the 2020 Commonwealth Day event and all the horrible things they’ve done and swept under the carpet the last few years. Horrible people dripping in jewels.

  57. Candy says:

    Thanks for covering the Duchess. She is a beautiful woman and her outfits are always perfect.

  58. BeanieBean says:

    That’s not solemnity, that’s boredom on her face.

  59. Misskitten says:

    Maybe Kate DID choose that shade of blue to sort of match the Ukranian flag, but what’s the point of wearing that particular blue, if you’re not going to also wear yellow? I don’t know I just think it takes away a lot of the effectiveness and the message when people aren’t even sure if one is supposed to be wearing (one of the) flag colors.

  60. Sinead says:

    I think Kate looks like she’s been crying in those photos…

    • Fleur says:

      I dunno, when I’m not smiling I also have “resting tragedy face” (my eyes, mouth, and pale color usually make me look like a weeping heroine from a grim Charles Dickens novel, unless I am actively smiling at someone). I’d say I acquired mine in late high school.

      Younger Kate, including college and the first half of her marriage, did not have resting tragedy face. She’s shown herself to be capable of being a major *****, but she also used to be able to act rather stoically or appear happily in quite a convincing way. Even her smiles have looked forced for several years now. She does not seem like a psychologically well woman. I can’t imagine what it’s like living in the firm in the 21st century without a singular voice and without a personality strong enough to buck against it, especially when vibrant Diana struggled

  61. Over it says:

    What was up with the 1800 Black people for rent for the commonwealth service? I know it’s the commonwealth but I don’t think I have ever seen so many of them get so much airtime and photo ops with the royals as they have this year.it’s was glaringly obvious how these people were using black people to finish their we are very much not a racist family portrait. And let me tell you, as a black woman, it makes me sad and angry when people of my color Allow themselves to be used like this

    • Fleur says:

      I quite agree, it’s not a good look, the ethos of “let’s bring in ethnic peoples to bow, fawn and give the white royals flowers”. I 100% noticed it too. I’m sure the idea was to make the commonwealth look inclusive and diverse, but it’s hard to do that organically in a system that promotes the opposite values

  62. Delphine says:

    Cannot stand the coat dresses. They’re basic and dated. And she has like a hundred of them.

  63. HarleyB says:

    How much more chic would a duster and sheath dress look vs this dowdy azz Mary Poppins coatdress?

  64. Che says:

    Does it get anymore boring and bland than this event? I guess this is the snooze fest vanilla people in Britain deserve. Trying to turn the clock back I guess.

  65. Miasys says:

    Her wholehearted embrace of Petty Betty cosplay just gets weirder. She’s got a shape that designers should love to dress, so it’s rather telling that no one has taken her in hand. Is she like Melania and Nagini, and no one wants to be associated with her?

    • Southern Fried says:

      Good question. British designers don’t want anything to do with Kate it seems. Lousy temperament possibly. You just know Meghan gets offers all the time. That’s a woman who knows how to dress. World class. Quickly becoming an icon if not already.

  66. Lucky Charm says:

    Does she think it’s the 1940’s? That long length does her no favors, but the color IS stunning.

  67. briochewench says:

    she’s had her lips done right? or completely overlined her top one at least

  68. SenseOfTheAbsurd says:

    Camilla’s hat LOL LOL LOL.

    Zip up coatdress is hilarious too. Kind of like a purple velour zipper housedress my nana had in the early 80s.

  69. Seaflower says:

    Her style is very matronly.

  70. tw says:

    I find her coatdress collection creepy. It’s very Serena Waterford. Screams subjugation.

  71. Beth says:

    This dress is too big and too long! And as usual, her hair has no style……

  72. Kate is so looking old and dowdy in her style of dressing. Not a good look. She needs a seasoned stylist. But I think no matter how good a stylist she gets to have, it’s what’s within in her that she must really try hard to work on. She has to be true to herself— accept, respect, and value herself. Then I think, no matter what her personal style may be, she’ll be able to project that power, the x-factor, and the self-confidence that will transform her to feel her best version of herself. And people who will look at her will see that strength and power.