By my records, the Princess of Wales had not attended Royal Ascot since 2023. She skipped in 2024 because of her health problems, and she pulled out of Ascot at the last minute in 2025 for reasons which are still unknown. We heard at the time that it was anything from “she’s just a bit tired” to “she still has very severe health issues” and I still have no idea what it was all about.
All of which to say, today was Kate’s big Ascot return, and she wanted to stand out. Like a banana in a sea of undercooked crackers. I actually remember this Roksanda dress – she’s worn it a few times, including more than a decade ago in Australia. She also wore it during the infamous 2022 Caribbean Flop Tour. It’s not a cursed dress or anything. I’m sure the hat is new, and I’m actually sort of impressed with how extra it is. Kate has been wearing bigger and bolder hats this year for some reason. #Trendspotting
Incidentally, Prince William and Kate sort of *had* to show up this year, because they made such a big deal about “banning” Princess Eugenie and Beatrice from Ascot. This was the threat – if B&E are not banned and shunned from Ascot, then Will and Kate will skip Ascot. Beatrice and Eugenie are nowhere to be found, thus Kate and William had to roll out of bed before noon today.
PS… I’m shocked that William wore a coordinated yellow boutonniere. He hates doing that kind of stuff.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Getty Images.
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- Royals attend day two of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
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- Royals attend day two of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
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- Royals attend day two of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
Wow, that is….bright. Better than some of her doily dresses though. I dont love the hat but I guess she’s in a big hat phase right now.
those pictures of her standing by herself just smiling and laughing are….sad. William is a few feet away completely ignoring her, Charles and Camilla have their backs turned to her – she just looks awkward and alone and she’s overcompensating with that big smile and laugh which ends up making her look unwell.
I wonder if her mother only goes when Kate goes because Carole is there to make sure Kate has someone to talk to?
Yeah for everyone who tries to say kate is in control, the photos of her just smiling off to who knows what basically confirms she’s not.
She’s visibly shrunk and rewears only make it more obvious, but she medicated enough to have a vacant smile so that things don’t look bad in public.
Yeah those photos look weird but at least the press won’t have to crop out William when they put her on the front page.
@Becks1, I think Kate is smiling at the man next to Charles and Camilla, he is turned towards her as if he’s speaking
I think he turned towards her as she was laughing, but I dont think they were actually in conversation. (if they were they were standing very far apart for a conversation lol.)
wow. she looks sickly. that dress does her no favors and only emphasizes how thin she is.
We all trying to figure out if kates gone crazy. Lol.
I think she was standing there, freeze-posing with her maniacal wide-mouthed staged laugh for the photographer on the right (you can see the strap across his back), then she turns to look in the direction of the man on the left who is probably looking at her and wondering what the hell she’s laughing at and who she is laughing with and what’s so gosh darn funny and why is this woman so freaking weird – all so that the photographer(s) could get her gawping from a different angle. She’s not talking to him. She’s not talking to or interacting with anyone. It’s weird.
In fact, it’s downright shady of AP to release these photos, taken from a distance, to show Kate’s MO when she knows that she’s being photographed. 😀
Kate looks like a wicked ice queen stern and cold. She knows the cameras are on her, she will not smile, but stick a hanger in to keep the smile extra extra stretched. On so many pics we can see everybody kinda smiling and there she is horsesmiling for the cameras. So much they probably told her at some point to stop opening her mouth to smile, and she doesnt do it as much/no more.
Yellow! I love this color and Kate looks good. Amid all the fluttering garden-party prettiness, there it was. Ascot 2026 belonged entirely to that yellow.
The dress is pretty on her. She looks so frail. Kate chose to go because the BandE arent there but also, she’s out to get that attention again – from mrs peter philips probably.
I love the color as well and it looks good on her. Not a button or ruffle in sight! Wiglet or not, I love her chignon – much better than hair falling down her back – having her hair up really suits her. The hat goes well with the hairdo as well. And I adore the chandelier earrings. My first thought was that she does look very thin/frail – its the first time that I have noticed her neck and torso are so thin.
She is also holding her tummy as usual. It must be difficult for her to do these public engagements with health worries….
Why is Kate standing by herself, laughing at no one and nothing, not interacting even with her mother or sister in law?
Love the dress and the hat but she needs to lose those suede pumps she wears with everything no matter the color or style…. ugh
Q:”Why is Kate standing by herself, laughing at no one and nothing”
A: She’s posing for her next Hello! cover.
She looks like she’s smiling at the man in the top hat but I think that’s bc he noticed she was just standing there smiling…at the camera maybe? It’s a direct stare towards the camera anyways.
She is 1.5 steps away from her husband.
Kate loves to pose for cameras — there are many shots of her over the years smiling at nothing. The creepiest ones to me are where she’s leaning into her child’s face (so they can be in the same shot) grinning and looking in a different direction than where the kid is looking. It’s so performative and fake, and yet they want people to think they’re raising their kids like normal folk.
Well, she sure stands out in that bright yellow…. yet being totally ignored!
First thought I had is she was unhappy with Harriet wearing a baby blue at the same event as her and yellow makes her difficult to ignore.. lol
Harriet may become a problem for Kate’s ego. Harriet seems more sure of herself and comfortable in these events, and despite the dowdy dress, Harriet is more naturally elegant. It will not do to outshine lazy, so I can see Harriet being told to stay home.
Same event but different days. Harriet was there the day before.
What a preposterous sight this is. A tough day at work for the lazy undeserving entitled few funded by the actual working people of GB. When is enough enough?
100% to all of this. These scenes are becoming more and more obscene. They are straight from some horror movie where the rich eat the poor. Wait . . .
This is very appropriate for Ascot! I quite like the extravagance of the hat and the banana yellow, even though I think it’s unflattering for Kate’s colouring.
Yeah, for me, I will take this over everything else she’s worn over the last few days. Does it stand out? Yes but she’s in a carriage and people at ascot wana see her. It’s a page from the queen’s habit of wearing bright things. So yeah, I’ve really never minded this dress but maybe I just like seeing people wear bright yellow.
I like the cut of the dress. A slightly different yellow would have looked nicer on her, but for her, this dress is downright modern (which is to say, it’s still dowdy, but still better than almost everything else she wears).
I actually quite like the dress. It’s formal but not fussy or stuffy.
Maybe I’ve just noticed but Kate has entered a big hat phase. Every appearance recently where she’s worn something on her head has been a large hat. I don’t know if it’s the latest trend but normally she sticks to her smaller fascinators.
She’s trying to hide her face for…reasons.
I think this might be it as well. She’s always worn big hats, but usually mixed up with fascinators or smaller hats, I think this is the first time in a while we’ve seen so many big hats from her straight in a row (although I did just check and at Easter she wore a fascinator….in beige.)
I wonder if she wants to wear the big hats when in bright sunlight to either protect her face or decrease the chances of a photographer getting a picture of her real face.
That might be the case but this big yellow hat isn’t flattering because the bright yellow hue is highlighting her facial features instead of hiding them. She looks more haggard because of the yellow hue on her face instead of the usual photoshopped look she is given by the media.
I refer to her big hats, like yesterday’s, her Melania look.
So she’s wearing them to keep Peg away from her? Not a bad theory.
I saw people theorizing that it’s due to get past cancer/pre-cancerous cells. But that was almost two years ago now so wouldn’t we have seen the shift to so many hats over the past two years and mot just recently?She’s always worn hats to these kind of events. Are they getting bigger? Sure but idk if I attribute to her past health problems.If it was for her health, she would’ve worn some sort of a hat covering, albeit a small one, to Wimbledon.
Maybe she is copy-keening Melanoma with the very large, cartwheel hats. When she isn’t looking for the camera (which is all the time, tbh), her icy, flinty look is also reminiscent of Mel.
With all Kate spends on her wardrobe, can’t she afford a slip?
Whoa! You’re not kidding!😳
Yeah um a slip would have been the smart move 😳
Was going to ask whether Britain is anti-slip.
Anti-foundation garment.
Kate certainly is.
I had the same thought, because…yikes! But then I looked at the hem & noticed there is a lining to that dress. Usually, if a dress is lined you don’t need a slip; I think maybe this time a slip would have been a good addition. But this is Kate we’re talking about, the woman who doesn’t mind her skirts blowing up around her bare a**, so…. 🙄
There are photos of her wearing this dress in 2022 and if she/her team had bothered to think they would have seen that the dress was very see through and ensured they did something about it – a new lining of a thicker material. She also has another very bright yellow dress that she wore on the Australia tour when Willi reportedly called her a banana. To have two such very bright yellow dresses seems unnecessary.
Been saying this for years. Her dresses/skirts are always sticking to her legs and/or the skirt is slightly see- through. It is messy looking. Wear a damn slip!
Maybe it’s a “sweet nod” to Princess Diana and the see-through skirt she wore in that photo.
She always looks like she dropped out of the 50’s. I love the dresses from that era, but she just looks dated.
You can see her mons pubis.
That skirt appears to be slightly sheer, does it not? Unless I’m seeing things, I can pretty clearly see the outline of her thighs in the first pic.
Well, now she’s back to doing thing for attention, huh? SMH. If a sudden gust of wind appeared, she’d be on the cover of Hello in a flash!
To be fair, she’d be on the cover of Hello! no matter what she wore or did. Just poking her head out of her front door would get her a cover.
‘in a flash’…. I saw what you did there. 🙂
Yes, you can see everything. This flowy cut of skirt that she favors, always ends up bunched between her legs because her legs are so skinny. I can’t imagine what shows when she is walking. The dress would look much better and more modern with a straight/pencil skirt.
Kate actually first wore this dress during her visit to Jamaica in 2022 and then repeated at the Wimbledon men’s final later that year. It’s one of her better dresses but I wish it wasn’t so long. As Kaiser said there was no way Kate could have missed Ascot this year.
It was the women’s final where wore the dress not the men’s.
Love the style of the dress, but as much as I love yellow that’s a little too schoolbus for me. She’s like a hanger now.
That is one frumpy dress. Very Vogue pattern from the 1950s.
Maybe Simplicity or Butterick.
I actually don’t mind the yellow. It’s a pretty spring/summer color. And better than the butter yellow/cream/beige she’s been wearing to every event lately that washes her out. Kate looks better in bold colors.
Yeah, I don’t mind this dress. The bright yellow is fun. I don’t know about all the draping but eh I’m here for it.
She looks as though she’d been tangled in the plastic net fencing that keeps deer out of gardens and decided to make a hat of it.
Yes! The deer aren’t allowed on that confiscated 150 acres either because – PRIVACY.
The shoes and the bag do not match either each other or the dress. Weird.
Both were terrible choices for that bright yellow!!! She learned nothing in her art history classes I tell you, nothing!
She’s been putting her hand across her stomach a lot more recently. That’s what she was doing right before her “abdominal surgery” and disappearance. Is she about to disappear again? The outfit is ugly. Yellow is not her color.
The hand across the waist hides how small her waist is……
I noticed that too…
I was just going to ask why she keeps clutching her midsection.
I think it’s deliberate to signal to the whole world that “she’s not well.” It invokes sympathy from the public.
She used to do it in the past as well. Just before her disappearance.
I think the hand over the tummy is because there is something there that she is very self conscious of when making public appearances…….
It’s a pretty dress but the shoulder pads are just highlighting how thin she is in the shoulders. At least there are no buttons….
Love the yellow colour, love the hat. Not a fan of the shape of the dress though.
The bright dress and big hat are to make sure she draws attention to herself and pull focus from C&C.
William should buy her a few nice personal sets of jewelry to use until she gains access to the crown jewels. Her personal collection is really very limited and must be quite embarrassing.
I wonder about the extent of financial abuse, and if she has a set allowance or if she has to ask for money.
Strangely, it’s often events like Ascot that bring that problem to mind for Kate, an improvement in her jewellery for events like this is long overdue.
This. Let’s talk styling. I’m actually into the bright yellow dress and even the bonkers yellow hat. It’s fun. More fun than what we usually get. But those dangly earring? Nooooo. The bright color and the hat are already going so big. The big earrings were unnecessary imo. Maybe you can say they’re that big so they can be seen from afar. But no. It’s too much with everything else going on and doesn’t even match the vibe of the dress and hat. I really just don’t like these earrings with this. But hey that’s just me. Does anyone have an idea of what type of earrings would’ve worked better, presuming you don’t love these in the same way that I don’t.
I agree, I liked the dress very much, the bright monochromatic color reminded me of her tomato-yellow red outfit for her last Ascot (also with tragic earring choices)
For this I think Camilla thought “Welp, maybe she’ll show up if I throw her a bone” so Kate got to rewear QEII’s dangly earrings and we’ll get articles about What A Tribute To The Late Queen etc. I think those horrid large pearl cluster earrings she wore to (erm…?? I’ve already forgotten) a recent event would have worked better than dangly because I agree, with that hat and netting, dangly earrings are too much.
But I wouldn’t have gone matchy matchy at all. Hat shape was good but I’d have done it in a darker straw, lose the netting which is out of season and then…How about chunky cuffs for earrings, in gold, inlaid a vibrant tomato red and maybe a bit of tortoiseshell? Then she could have gone with red slingbacks and a tortoiseshell clutch. Or go cooler, with Tahitian pearls (the dark blue ones) alternating with seed pearls, small hoops, a matching brooch and then some midnight navy strappy sandal stilettos instead of court shoes.
Meanwhile I’m wondering why there are no shots of Kate in the Royal Box? Is Carole hogging all the champagne? Did Kate have to dash off for the school run since Carole and William were there? Were Camilla’s extended family taking up too much space? So many questions…
“Tahitian pearls (the dark blue ones) alternating with seed pearls, small hoops, a matching brooch and then some midnight navy strappy sandal stilettos instead of court shoes”
Ooooooooh, wouldn’t that have been something!!!
That’s the vibe that would work for Kate, bringing some zing to that staid look she favours.
“The big earrings were unnecessary imo. Maybe you can say they’re that big so they can be seen from afar. But no. It’s too much with everything else going on and doesn’t even match the vibe of the dress and hat.”
I SO agree with this. It would be better if Kate got away from dangly earrings. This dress and its vibrant colour could have made a good emerald or amethyst brooch pop if she went traditional, but Lady Esther’s suggestions are terrific.
It’s always been my argument that Kate should have a working wardrobe of coloured, faceted stones for her earrings. It wouldn’t have to just be single studs, but nice lux, basics that support her clothes instead of fighting with them, it would make a real difference.
This is just my own weird fashion rule but those chandelier earrings do not speak daywear to me. I immediately noticed those earrings and thought they looked off with that dress and hat and for that occasion. As usual for her, something is always off.
Sometimes it strikes me that Kate envisioned her whole life post-marriage as just a sort of set-piece pose, like the bride on a wedding cake topper — stand and wave, stand and wave — forever. And this is the thing about social climbing. What do you do when you get to the mountaintop? And everyone else is chatting to each other, because that’s where they live, they can metabolise oxygen at higher pressure, their blood pressure is lower, etc…. Cause this is their native environment? How much adaptation is faking it, and how much of it is necessary, to find your feet? She seems never to have resolved any of it.
That’s a very good description.
Something is definitely going on with Kate – in the video that Laura Ann Barr posted of the carriage procession in, Kate was basically scowling until she saw LA, then did the most basic smile and quick wave and back to scowling.
I’m just glad she’s got all that horse hair in a bun.
She did a bun for Trooping too–glad to see it. It’s a pretty basic bun hairpiece that we’ve seen before, and maybe it’s time to experiment with chignons and even loose buns. But it’s a definite improvement over the horse hair wiglets.
She’s posting for a photo. The man next to her caught it, and was looking at the scene. She kept on smiling. But it looks very manic, and like she’s all on he own
I actually like the dress and hat combination, but I do need to point out that she and Scoots are theme dressing. The daffodil is the Welsh national flower, hence the matching boutonnière and bright yellow dress. They are the Prince and Princess of Wales. Get it? Got it? Did everyone who’s forgotten remember? *sigh*
Nope, I remembered, but then realized we were way past St David’s Day, which is when he usually wears a daffodil, so I figured maybe not, maybe some other reason to match Katie Keen.
She makes herself the center of the pictures, she knows where the cameras are.
Without fail…
Navy would have been the perfect accent color here. She’s always close but no cigar in terms of styling.
Right? Like, literally anything but matchy matchy. Emerald! Cobalt! Coral! Even black and white…with a fantastic pair of 40s style spectator heels, a sharp black shiny clutch and a white saucer hat with a black ribbon, she could have leaned into the graphic pattern it created with the bright yellow, and had a ball with news coverage of how she looked like a bumblebee or the second coming of Bette Davis in “Now, Voyager.”
Fashion is supposed to be fun, not an exercise in extreme mental stress to “get everything right”, and Kate is literally the second highest ranking woman in the UK (when with her husband). It’s not like she needs to be meek and mild anymore. I wish she’d accept better advice but…here we are
@Lady Esther: I really like your styling ideas! I’m going to adapt them to my own life!
I’ve always liked this dress and the hat is fine. It’s the jewelry that’s off. I’m sure we’ll hear that the dangling diamond earrings are a touching tribute to the Queen and the pearl bracelet is a subtle nod to Diana, but they don’t work together. I’d like to see her bring back the diamond earrings and bracelet that were a rumored wedding gift from Charles. I can’t remember the last time she wore them.
Today on the radio I heard Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond dueting on You don’t bring me flowers anymore. I haven’t heard that song in years. It is aching sad about a passionate love that is long gone between the couple. Seeing Kate isolated in a crowd and ignored- again – in public by her husband made me wonder how she would react to this song of lost love and regret. She’s got everything she went after but her husband ices her out in public?! How is that satisfying or does front page coverage and fawning of the BM and that annual Wimbledon ovation compensate for a cold marriage where the man does NOT bring her any flowers, happiness, love or respect? Did she win because she gets to be crowned as Queen?
I think her mother would say YES! Kate (and the Midds) bought into Carole’s scheme decades ago and, I’m sure, catching, marrying (ensnaring?) William was the plan….NOT true love, wedded bliss or happily ever after. Embiggening the Middleton family through a royal marriage was the goal. It seems her whole family bought into it, come what may. Given what we see of Kate and her kids, I’m not sure happiness was achieved but status for the Middleton family was. At least Carole is estatic to be royal adjacent.
She looks nice. Hate the shoes.
My only real thought is how self-important and frivolous these people are.
I bet Bea will still show up at some point.
This banana yellow is hideous on her.
I actually like that this is a bold color. It feels right for the event. The cut is nice. It’s not a good color for her. She’s a Soft Summer or maybe a Soft Autumn so it’s too bright and warm. But I don’t hate it.
It kind of looks like she should have Not My King written on the back of that dress.
😁
I don’t love anything she wears. But this is much better than usual. Almost austere. I like the big hats too. I hate fascinators on long hair – even when she looked young and healthy, those looked trashy. But, without the padded coat dresses, she is even more skeletal. If she doesn’t get help soon she will disappear. Literally.
She could be the viral image of Donald Trump at the G7: standing centre frame alone, staring straight into camera, whilst not one person around her pays her the slightest mind.
Those third & fourth photos! Kate in the middle, big smile on her face, nobody around her, nobody looking at her, nobody engaging with her. So weird! In the fourth photo, it looks like the guy on the left accidentally glances her way & she looks so grateful! But it’s just a turn of the head on his part, he doesn’t move toward her for an actual conversation. Geez Louise! This makes her look pretty pathetic.
When the press first began hounding Diana pre-engagement/marriage, she once naively posed backlit by the sun, making her skirt appear completely transparent in photos. Keener about managed to repeat that infamous image. I wonder if the images were airbrushed to not only conceal her age but her fashion faux pas as well. She is just so painfully th!n and throwing off m@n!c energy. I detest yellow, but at least it is a different style and not a 5 K redundant coat dress with buttons, buttons, buttons.