I had no memory of this, but Prince William and Kate traveled to Sweden and Norway in January 2018, when Kate was pregnant with Louis. It was in Sweden, when she was visibly pregnant, that she first wore this Catherine Walker houndstooth coat in red and cream. Five years later, the coat was pulled out and likely retailored, and Kate wore it on Saturday for the Six Nations rugby match in Cardiff. I was meh on the coat in 2018, and I’m still kind of meh on it? At least it wasn’t a repeat of the same old green and blue coats, I guess. This time, Kate paired the coat with black tights, black boots and a black turtleneck. Sure. (Ooof, those buttons!!)
Kate is now the patron of English rugby, and William is the patron of Welsh rugby. The Six Nations match was between England and Wales, and England won. Kate was apparently quite pleased. Before the match, William and Kate met with injured players who receive support from the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust. Kate seemed especially animated. They didn’t bring any of their kids for this rugby match. My guess is that they left the kids at home because the Six Nations thing was in Wales, meaning there was more extensive travel involved.
Also: Kate wore a pair of diamond earrings to RUGBY. Meanwhile, at the BAFTAs, she wore those tacky-ass, cheap-ass Christmas ornament earrings.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images.
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales meet injured players who are supported by the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust, before officially opening the Sir Tasker Watkins Suite, ahead of the Wales vs England Six Nations Match at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Picture date: Saturday February 25, 2023. Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom When: 25 Feb 2023 Credit: Matthew Horwood/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales meet injured players who are supported by the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust, before officially opening the Sir Tasker Watkins Suite, ahead of the Wales vs England Six Nations Match at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Picture date: Saturday February 25, 2023. Featuring: Prince William Where: Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom When: 25 Feb 2023 Credit: Matthew Horwood/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales meet injured players who are supported by the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust, before officially opening the Sir Tasker Watkins Suite, ahead of the Wales vs England Six Nations Match at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Picture date: Saturday February 25, 2023. Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom When: 25 Feb 2023 Credit: Matthew Horwood/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales meet injured players who are supported by the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust, before officially opening the Sir Tasker Watkins Suite, ahead of the Wales vs England Six Nations Match at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Picture date: Saturday February 25, 2023. Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom When: 25 Feb 2023 Credit: Matthew Horwood/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales meet injured players who are supported by the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust, before officially opening the Sir Tasker Watkins Suite, ahead of the Wales vs England Six Nations Match at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Picture date: Saturday February 25, 2023. Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales, Prince William Where: Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom When: 25 Feb 2023 Credit: Matthew Horwood/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
This is the ugliest coat I’ve ever seen!!!! And of course Kate wears this.. She looks like a clown in this! 🤦🏼♀️
She has such terrible taste and despite all the money she can’t afford a good advisor…
I agree, this coat is hideous and as I’m prone to migraines I can’t even look at it for a long time. The pattern is aggressive in this color. Maybe this monstrosity was discovered in the back of some closet when they moved.
It looks like those red and white checkered table cloths seen in old western movies. 🫣
It is an ugly coat but i am very happy that she at least stuck to her own style for this occasion
Agree @chloe. At least it’s something she wore before she began SWF-ing Meghan.
It is hideous and sure is attention seeking as per her usual. You could see that ugly monstrosity from the ISS!
Ugly coat and why does she have her mouth wide open like she’s guffawing like a fool.
I like houndstooth but this pattern is too big. When Diana wore it, she coordinated red with black houndstooth that gave it an edge. It was very 90s supermodel vibe. This is just loud.
Ugh when she’s not gaping she looks medicated. I wonder what it’s like to see that exaggerated ‘smile’ up close. Does it look as unnatural in person as it appears in photos? Does she see herself? Why why why?
Because she is a fool if she thinks William really IS WORKING on all those nights away. That coat is sooooo ugly, and really, with her mouth open (as usual) how silly is she wearing a houndstooth coat 😂😂
I’m with you, GDubslady. The pattern is way too big. And the cream colour looks aged, or dirty,, even. The only good thing about it is that it goes some way to hide those bloody buttons.
IF, the color combo was black/red houndstooth, it would maybe work. As is, it looks like a Rorschach test. In truthfulness, didn’t care for the look when Diana wore it. The difference is, Diana had the charisma to pull it off.
Kate can wear her hair any length she & her wiglets choose. Hopefully, Kate or her wiglets recognizes that in the pic with the godawful white purse, someone sees (looking at you Kate), that she looks younger & more modern for the monarchy, with a hair chop. The faux shoulder length bobbed hair makes her look younger.imo
Kaity will never have the wonderful style of Meghan. She has no class and starving herself makes her look haggard.
I hate this coat more than words can express. But if you Google “Diana red houndstooth,” you’ll see exactly why Kate’s wearing it.
Also, she is just so dumb…in close-ups, you can tell she’s wearing the little rose rugby pin, but it completely blends into the pattern here so it’s almost impossible for most people to see that she even has it on. If she’d worn a solid color, it would stand out so much more.
@Lorelei: just did that. This got Kate all those side by side with Diana photos she wanted in the papers. Mission accomplished. (Hideous on Diana, too, I’m afraid, but at least she didn’t have giant red plastic buttons on her jacket.)
the buttons are tradge. they look wack with the pattern and they’re not even the right red! a medium width belt (in the proper red) would be so much better. even gold buttons would have been better. Catherine Walker should be embarrassed.
the contrast of the gloves and bag is good but the coat is unfortunate.
You are lucky if that’s the ugliest coat you’ve ever seen. Me, I’ve had some coworkers and a former sister-in-law with spectacularly bad taste. Neither of them had anywhere near the budget as Miz Wales, who did choose this truly ugly coat all by herself.
She looks like a particularly ugly sofa in that horrendous coat. Hate it with the black. Would be more bearable in a smaller-scale houndstooth.
It might have been wishful thinking, but the coverage I saw in the US didn’t have the standard cutaways to the Royals. Usually quite a few, yesterday I didn’t see a single one. It was a live feed from the UK. Maybe even rugby cameramen can’t stand the gormless gurning and seething?
I’m not sure they stayed long. No sign of them after the anthems.
Which neither of them knew the words to – at least the Welsh one. You could clearly see they were making mouth shapes without actually singing the words and the mouth shapes were out of time and incorrect lol. You’d think they’d learn the national anthem of the country they are Prince and Princess of!
Gross.
Hurrah for flag dressing!
Almost unlimited resources and yet zero imagination. Sigh. I also really hate this coat and the way it’s styled.
The coat is too short, she should have worn pants. And no to the white purse
Yes, yes and yes. Also, that coat is ugly.
Her originally styling wasn’t any better—burgundy bag & shoes.
Hell no to the white purse. Shiny red buttons, white purse, what is she, a clown? I think it’s a failed copy-keen – Meghan makes very interesting purse choices but has the style sense to make it work, whereas Kate is like a robot learning to dress itself – just NO.
But it’s red and white…. she HAD to wear it. Bless her heart….
I agree with all of you that this coat is uniquely, impressively hideous, but I equally situated by Billiam’s self-satisfied gloat-face. It’s obvious how clever and brilliant this dolt thinks he is. I hate him’
Yeah, this stark reminder of her pre-Meghan stalking style reminds me why she started copykeening.
Aww, bless her heart… she brought her tilted head of concern too…
And she’s back to carrying her gloves again…
“Tilted head of concern.”
Priceless
Ya don’ need to listen when employing the Tilted Head of Concern that’s the trick @Aimee … And listening doesn’t show in a photo but looking like you are interested does…
“Tilted head of concern”… LOLOLOLOL
She learned that trick from the family spaniels.
Kate has a sudden love for gloves!
And big earrings. Maybe she’s looking for her signature style. Lol
I don’t understand why she posed with the gloves removed and over the purse instead of actually using the purse and storing the gloves inside. . It’s not a fashion show but she really treats it like one.
Everything to her is a fashion show and photo op. It’s all she has to offer.
I have noticed the way she holds her hands together looks like she is copying Claire Foy when she played the Queen in the crown. Maybe she has always done it and I’ve just started noticing it more lately.
Her head tilting. Guffawing simmering and mugging same old same old from keen.
I normally like her coat style but I have always hated houndstooth- this is the most hideous coat I have seen in my life.
Stands out in a crowd though, probably the point, as per usual with Kate.
Yup. I thought the exact same thing Windyriver
Yeah, it stands out – you can see it from space.
Houndstooth is fine in a much smaller print & maybe less of it–but a whole coat in this giant print? Yikes!
The purse is cute with it and her hair looks nice
I remember liking this coat somewhat at the time.c it was better than the other ugly coats she used to wear before her Meghan cosplaying meant lots of long solid colored coats. Now I’m more meh on it.
I wonder if they had the meet and greet beforehand so it didn’t look like they traveled to Wales for just a rugby match.
Also they can add a few more engagements to their total.
Here again while technically the coat is a rewear, she must have had it altered significantly since she last wore it when she was pregnant with Louis so why even spend money on something with such an ugly pattern. It’s an attempt to copy Diana instead of Meghan I guess.
It is a direct copy of Diana, the beloved POW, who wore a short, cropped red houndstooth jacket, only she paired it with a black houndstooth skirt. Kate must feel the indifference from Wales as to her new position and she is pulling out the old Diana looks and the diamonds to remind the Welsh that she, Kate Middleton, is their princess now and they are supposed to fall in line and love her too.
I’m sure her goal was to be spotted and noticed from every corner of the stadium, that coat was hard to miss.
@becks1 @nic919 @harper honestly I’d rather she stick to this than her blatant Meghan cosplay cuz at least the media’s focus is shifted from licking k’s butt and trying to beat Meghan to just licking k’s butt
Are those the Asprey earrings that she got a matching pendant for? They’re so blindingly expensive yet have so little impact. Yeah, those are diamonds, but they aren’t big, and the setting doesn’t look technically challenging. Has anyone seen these in real life and can explain the appeal/cost to me? Is it just the brand name?
It’s the name + the huge retail markup on jewelry. Those pave diamonds are a few bucks each for a jeweler. Most of the value in them is the metal.
Are they Asprey or Mappin & Webb? Either way, I agree, they’re underwhelming. Why spend that kind of money for something that’s just blah?
> Why spend that kind of money for something that’s just blah?
one could ask this about the entire BRF.
She could be wearing diamonds the size of lemons on her earlobes and they’d be upstaged by the strobing ugly of that coat.
Some of the photos of W from this event (like the one above where he’s pointing at his head) are so priceless they deserve a post of their own.
@sure 😂 especially that pic of him pointing to his brain… “take a look, see there’s nothing there!”
Layla!!! 😆😆😆😆😆😆
@Sure, ITA, I laughed out loud at the one of William pointing at his own stupid head and I hope Kaiser uses it here frequently.
Same!
When will is not mugging he looks bored.
There are many photos online of these two looks so very bored at this match. The ice between them is obvious. Even work colleagues interact more at events like this.
If my husband made those kinds of faces while I spoke to him, I’d cry.
Willy is always gritting his teeth & he never looks at her, never engages.
I guess even the separate homes isn’t enough anymore.
I wish they’d just get on with divorce, it’s beyond ridiculous at this point.
I know, l saw de highlights last night, Kate had her sour face on again, although l.havent seen se news reports, where lm.sure Kate was laughing non stop.at nothing ! !
Her stylist should be FIRED, unless she’s just not listening to her stylist and doing whatever the hell she wants. The coat is okay, but I don’t think wearing black with it works at all. Also, earrings like that are what she should have been wearing with the BAFTA dress the other night.
Does she even have a stylist? She seems to be her own stylist.
Her stylist is Chris Jackson’s wife.
I think Tasha is a full time Mum now?
Trying to style Kate probably drove her into retirement.
Tasha has two young kids now so it’s likely that it wasn’t worth the shitty pay and boss she had to deal with. I often wonder if Kate even listened to her because the few times Chris jackson has posted family photos with her she actually has decent style.
Kate has absolutely no fashion sense. I was happy to see her revert to her pre-Meghan wardrobe but this occasion screamed for a pants. Wearing this coat with thick black tights just looked odd.
@amy bee right? I was firm in the belief that k is so deep in the rabbit hole of Meghan cosplay that those pre-meghanification coats and dresses would never see the light of day again.
I’m just happy to see her left eyebrow is back in its normal position. The rest is mess.
Yeah, I’m a certified hater but her face looks great after an extremely rough settling period. Even untouched Getty pics look good. I’m thinking hectic skin treatments (peels/laser) and (finally) a professional makeup artist are to be credited for the shift.
Not even going to touch the style disaster though.
Thanks much to Photoshop c/o fawning photographers. LOL.
I don’t mind this look at all! In fact it’s refreshing to see her in her actual personal style, with a black modern touch. Her hair though. I just can’t. The color should never change. But for her to have the same hair…and no change for this long. She wears hair pieces anyway, so she could go longer for anything.
She needs to go back to buttons, but lean slightly into vintage British mod. It will hit all the demos she needs to hit, and it will be something she won’t be ripping off Meghan. Get a sick 60’s Bob, and the clothes don’t matter as much.
Geez this is bad. If she had worn cream/winter white with the jacket I’d like it but the black is jarring and then the white purse?? What the hell?
Yes, cream would have worked better than black! I still wouldn’t have liked it but it wouldn’t look so off.
I have never likes the houndstooth patterns, to me it’s as bad as a gingham pattern, both make me dizzy if I have to look at them too long. That being said the red and white is just hideous, but I’m sure the rota and tabloids will give her a fashion award come Monday 🙄
Yes, this look is migraine inducing. It’s actually physically painful
My latest mental exercise is making up captions for the pictures. These give me a lot of fuel for that particular fire…
Kate is the Princess of Wales and yet she is the patron of English rugby, while William the Prince of Wales is the patron of Welsh rugby.
Only in UK can you find this kind of awkward anomaly.
This is what happened when patrons of sporting associations are restricted to a few royalty
I would love to know and caption what the man beside Wills is thinking in the second to last photo.
Same. But tbh I think we can pretty easily guess what he was thinking just going by his expression, lmao
Too bad we can’t have their true thoughts pop up over their heads.
Seems to me Kate always wore her coats and coat-dresses short, almost mini, prior to Meghan showing up with long coats. The coat has a 60’s vibe to me. White patent go-go boots would be perfect! The white purse would still work too.
That coat is classic and stylish. Diana wore that pattern as well. She looked great.
The plaid pattern is classic as is the cut, but not the length.
Exactly. The length makes a pattern like this way too much
Less is more with a pattern this large — a cropped jacket worn with black trousers would have been better.
She is clueless.
It’s ugly and practically psychedelic. It hurts the eyes looking at it even more than a pair of full length heavy black gloves with a white floaty dress. I’d think this about that coat whoever was wearing it, didn’t like this style when Diana wore it either.
Someone on Twitter found this choice was a (not so) “subtle tribute to Diana”
https://www.vogue.com/article/kate-middleton-houndstooth-coat-princess-diana
It’s funny, I posted about this above before I’d even seen your comment, because I actually remembered the iconic images of Diana running to hug her boys in this jacket.
Diana created moments so memorable that they’re still in my (and many others’) brain decades later. Even people who don’t pay the least bit of attention to the royals would likely remember the “revenge dress” or the photos of Diana dancing with John Travolta.
Kate has zero of these types of images/moments and I guess she thinks she can create them by copying Diana— she’s just too dumb to realize that the photos are iconic because of the wearer, not the pattern of her jacket.
Thanks for sharing. As soon as I saw OG Princess of Wales, I smiled. I love that look on Diana.
p.s. I know historically Diana is not the original Princess of Wales, but I’ll think of her as the OG contemporarily. Although, Joan of Kent seems very interesting.
Thanks for that link! I had sort of recalled the jacket, but not how bad Diana’s outfit was as a whole! Cute for the time though. I recall in the early 90s I had a black and white houndstooth – I don’t know what to call them, overall culottes? – they came with a white shirt and I wore them with black pantyhose and black suede pumps. I had no sense of what my style was yet but thought they were pretty snazzy at the time. 🤣
It’s an ugly coat especially the pattern and those horrible buttons. The pattern is entirely too big, bright and is very aggressive to the eyes. The buttons are just horrible. They look like cheap buttons that weren’t meant for the coat. I hate the black and white detail of Diana’s jacket but the contrast of the red houndstooth jacket to the black houndstooth skirt is what makes her look so iconic and beautiful. I’m confused as to what Kate is doing in the articles photo when their is a wide shot of the crowd with Will and Kate in the center. Is she clapping her hands, because if she is her hand placement is very strange and looks very uncomfortable?
I was coming here to say this! This is a Diana nod!
Thanks for posting the Vogue link with pics of Diana in that memorable suit. How interesting that she first wore it in 1990 to Princess Eugenie’s christening! And now Euge is a married mother with a son and another baby on the way.
Khate though is not giving ‘tribute’ to Diana, as the sycophantic text of the article implies. Kate is merely copying as usual, to bring attention to herself. If her life depended on it, Khate cannot match nor keep up with the iconic personal styles of Diana or Meghan.
Diana is so on point with her accessories.
As someone who is the same exact age as Kate I so wish she would update her eye makeup. I’ve softened mine over the last few years and it would make such a difference for her to do the same I think. I’m meh on the coat.
What a mic drop! I see the revenge against Meghan plan is in FULL effect. (insert all the eye roll emojis) Again she doesn’t go far enough. This needs bright blue eye shadow, white gogo boots, and the purse should have a psychedelic theme to it. Also more eyeliner. And the earrings should have been lava lamps.
Now I’m gonna have that B52s song stuck in my head all day after looking at that hideous coat.
🙂 I love the idea of white go-go boots with this coat! And maybe this would have been a good time to pull out one of her pillbox hats? And maybe a That Girl flip to her hair (shorter, of course)?
Oh my goodness! That would work! I think I recall either Marlo Thomas or Mary Tyler Moore in a similar look now.
@BeanieBean you are on to something right there! Love it.
Sad that she does nothing useful or interesting, that is why discussing her clothing has become the main talking point with Kate.
I love a bold print, so this coat is right up my alley – but together with the diamonds and the tights, it’s not quite right for watching a rugby match. I think it’s too fussy and formal. Why not wear some of the team’s merch? Break out the cute rugby fleece, Kate!
Exactly, Jay. Why is she not in a English team jersey or hoodie? It’s an unwritten law that you wear your team’s colours to the game, especially a game as meaningful as this one. It would have been such an easy win for her. (I know she’s in red, it’s not the same.)
I agree with you, at the same time, look at the skirt suit worn by the woman in the first photo. Looks like for at least some, this was a somewhat dressy affair.
For sure, there are others around them who dressed up, but I can only imagine that this is a sort of “royal box” and the people around them are either bigwigs looking to impress, or guests of Kate and William.
If we look further than this little knot of people, all the other spectators appear to be dressed comfortably. So do Will and Kate set the formal tone for the rest, or are they just adhering to some antiquated formalities? Either way, it doesn’t do much to dispel Harry’s portrayal of them as stuffy, out-of-touch, and stiff.
It reminds me a little bit of when they showed up to the basketball game in Boston and Kate was in a full on coatdress, except of course in that case they were even more out of step with the American crowd.
That coat is a lot to look at. It’s too much at that length or the way it’s styled. I’m not sure which. You know who might have look cute in this? Charlotte.
It’s because it’s a bright white against a bright orange red. It is very stark. The black tights and polo neck accentuate it even more. It gives me a headache!
Meh. It’s very Kate. The colors match the occasion. It’s got buttons. She’s worn much worse.
Why not so many buttons? Don’tcha think she’s copying QE, who also never saw a cheap button she didn’t like?
All of Liz’s coats had big buttons. Between copying QE for buttons, Diana for outdated styles, and Meghan for contemporary looks, Kkate wears nothing unique.
What a violent assault on the eyes! She looks like the Big Boy Restaurants mascot.
Omg you are so right. I think only a North American audience would know that reference though.
Why is it called 6 nations? What are the six?I’m not into sports, so maybe it was a fun game, no idea. Anyway , that’s a frumpy shapeless coat but at least it’s her own style, and not jacking Meghan for once. The black tights are so dated, but everything is on her. She has the worst sense of accessories. Her comfort zone dressing, and her stale looks like the jeggings, and the short coats and buttons and wiglets are Forever 31 for Kate. William always looks like some anonymous civil servant. What’s with that wide tie? He reminds me of that stern faced muppet.
Six nations play each other; Ireland (the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland play as one team), Scotland, Wales, England, France and Italy.
I like the coat — I would have worn it open to lessen the impact of the print but I like a bold look over solid black . The white purse works for me too —- but open the coat
She still looks like Ozzy Osbourne sorry Ozzy. Long dark hair, heavy eye liner, gurning and hands in the air, I keep waiting for her to break into ‘Crazy Train’.
Ha ha ha ha ha! That is so funny, and it’s Sunday night syndrome here when things are lining up for a bleak week. Thanks for the smile, Nicky.
The coat still looks like a picnic tablecloth and the jewels should have been at BAFTA. Once again Kate has to copy another woman’s style to get notice and praise. Too bad the other similarity to her late MIL is being an alleged cuckolded wife.
I wish it was a “never to be seen again coat” because I absolutely hate white against this kind of orange red. The black polo neck underneath finishes off the horrible triumvirate of black, white and red that she wears quite a lot and is ouch on the eye. I’m an olive skin that comes up dark in summer and pale in winter. I have very dark hair and eyes. People assume that a red winter coat will be a sure thing for me, but the actual reds that really suit a brunette and make things pop are not that many.
Looks like her eyebrow has settled.
I was happy to see Kate wear this and it has nothing to do with my feelings about the outfit. This is a reflection of Kate’s own personal style. I would prefer her to stick to her own style rather than trying to look like Meghan or Diana. So bring on the short coat dresses and prairie wife dresses Kate! To thine own self be true.
The coat looks so dated, maybe from the pre-mod 1960’s? Ugly for sure. I see Will has made the effort to match her with his red tie and scarf. And there his efforts to accommodate his wife end. She will never get more from him, certainly not his love or loyalty.
She needs to stop the head tilting.
Perhaps I’m easily confused, but often it’s hard to tell if what Kate is wearing is a coat or a coat dress. She has worn coats to engagement and never taken them off, so that doesn’t help the confusion!
I actually like Houndstooth, and I’m not even adverse to the pattern in red; but it has to be used sparingly. She’s covered in it! It looks like a child’s coat that might be worn at Christmas. I don’t think it’s ugly so much as twee and unsophisticated.
This wiglet line is so very obvious…
This seems like a coat for warmer weather. Black boots are weird with with the white check. Might be better with nice white heels in springish weather