Tatler named Princess Kate the best-dressed woman of 2026

Not one but TWO emotional-support polls this week! The first was this week’s YouGov emotional-support poll on which royals are the most popular. Bizarrely, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s names are still being polled on, despite the fact that they’ve lived in California since 2020. Unsurprisingly, Prince William barely edged out his wife as the most popular royal! No one believes those numbers, but sure! Well, Princess Kate was furious, so Tatler gave her something special: she was named Britain’s best-dressed for 2026. The first best-dressed woman to send a dozen British labels into bankruptcy with her reverse Midas Touch!

The Princess of Wales has claimed the top place as one of Britain’s best dressed for 2026. The 44-year-old was named on the list compiled by fashion and lifestyle magazine Tatler, alongside the brother of popstar Dua Lipa and Bridgerton star Hannah Dodd.

Kate, who previously topped Tatler’s list in 2022, was praised by the magazine for her return to the spotlight after taking a break from royal duties in 2024 due to a cancer diagnosis and treatment.

The publication noted that Kate is “back to health – and back to being a Brit-fashion heroine”, hailing her as “Britain’s chicest figure” whose fashion choices “light up royal occasions”.

The princess is often praised for her elegant and brightly coloured ensembles, having turned heads at Royal Ascot this year when she wore a bold yellow outfit paired with a matching hat.

[From The Evening Standard]

I’m including some fashion pics of Kate this year. I’ll say something mildly nice – I appreciate that someone (I guess William) adjusted her clothing allowance last year, because she’s been wearing new dresses, new coatdresses and new Meghan/Diana cosplay pretty consistently. I still shudder when I think about the two-year-period of time when Kate was wandering around in the same trousers, blazer or Self Portrait ensemble multiple times in a matter of weeks. And all of that was when Natasha Archer was her stylist too. Kate’s post-Archer style has been… okayish. Better than I thought it would be after her right-hand gal suddenly left her. Kate’s post-Archer style has also shown the world that Kate doesn’t need Natasha Archer to keep up with her Meghan moodboard. Kate is clearly keeping track of Meghan’s looks all by herself (and Archer is clearly maintaining her own separate Meghan moodboard).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

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21 Responses to “Tatler named Princess Kate the best-dressed woman of 2026”

  1. YankeeDoodles says:

    I’ll give Kate credit: she has always dressed well. I don’t say that lightly. I do think she has taste and a certain style. But there’s nothing about it that really makes you go, WOW. There’s nothing — to take the most salient contrast — like Carolyn Bessette, who was a true original. Kate’s style is very safe. Home Counties, Bicester Village, safe. Which is why I always found it funny that she had a “stylist.” You don’t need a stylist to dress like Kate. You just need a credit card. If all it takes is money, it isn’t really fashion, in the cultivated sense; it’s just consumerism. That’s what Kate represents.

    • Eurydice says:

      Yes, I was about to post the same thing. Anyone can be well-dressed, given enough money and an age-old template.

    • Kasztanka says:

      Forgive me, but I have no idea how anyone can find anything good about the way Kate dresses—let alone speak of taste or style.
      Kate, like all the Middletons, has ALWAYS dressed terribly. They are tacky and kitschy. Always ill-fitting outfits, awful accessories, and even worse makeup. Kate was always intent on showing off her butt and boobs—and, in jeans bare belly all the way down to the crotch.
      In terms of fashion, she fared somewhat better when she copied the Queen or Diana—though in the case of Diana, it took on unhealthy proportions.
      Before Meghan came along, she wore the same black mid-height heels and clutches almost constantly; while sitting next to the Queen, she’d expose her crotch and white panties, and later she went all out and started leaving her underwear at home.
      Meghan’s arrival shook up the entire Royal Family—and not just in terms of fashion; Kate and her mother became obsessed, and Kate didn’t just copy Meghan—she mimicked her look from head to toe.
      But even the best copied outfit can be completely ruined by terrible, garish accessories.
      On top of that, she doesn’t know how to carry her clothes; her posture doesn’t help matters either—her head is always jutting out ahead of her torso. She needed a stylist for menial tasks and to keep tabs on Meghan, not for actual fashion advice. She has Carole for that, which unfortunately shows. And calling Carolyn Bessette original is wide of the mark, too. Carolyn was the embodiment of classic style. I can’t recall a SINGLE “quirky” outfit of hers. She always wore very simple, classic, elegant pieces; the fact that she looked amazing in them was down to her posture, her figure, her looks, and her ability to carry the clothes well and the selection of clothing.

    • Becks1 says:

      I think she wears expensive clothes, but she really has zero taste. having taste would mean wearing appropriate jewelry for daytime vs evening, wearing better hats for different occasions, having clothes tailored properly, etc. That’s all part of having taste/style and she does not have that.

  2. What? says:

    LOL. The emperor really has no clothes on.

  3. Shiela Kerr says:

    Best dressed compared to what?

  4. Dee(2) says:

    If they say so.

    The funny thing to me with this and yesterday’s poll, is that I’m at an age where this sort of thing would embarrass me, not please me. That people felt that my feelings needed this sort of handling, if someone else was getting attention. To be so emotionally stunted that not only do you still need this, but for it to still be effective?

  5. Kittenmom says:

    Nope. Not buying it.

  6. Jay says:

    Well, she certainly wears a lot of clothes- maybe that makes you “best-dressed”. But I don’t think she is stylish.

  7. Catherine says:

    Her day wear is a disaster. Tatler must be having a sly laugh. Her gowns are nice though.

  8. lamejudi says:

    Um, we’re not supposed to focus on what Kate wears, Tatler. Focus on her charitable contributions and initiatives.

  9. Al says:

    I wonder how much they paid for this nest dressed honors?

  10. Brit says:

    About a week ago the Times (UK) published an interview with former fashion designer Tabitha Webb (me neither) who said this about what happened after Kate wore some of her pieces:
    “Seeing that, I turned to my husband and said, ‘I think I might finally make money’. There’s no greater endorsement than Kate wearing your clothes. It’s easy to think it’ll be the making of you. But it’s not. Customers buy what she wore but they don’t return for more.”
    The business folded.

  11. Tessa says:

    I disagree. The pictures of her at those banquets, one with the tilted tiara, the unflattering gown the long Disney Princess wig, was so unflattering. The one she wore when Trump was flattering her.And that green gown she wore at another banquet. She needs to get a good hair trim also.

  12. Tessa says:

    Harriet Phillips is better dressed than Keen but they dare not give Harriet the honors.

  13. Nanea says:

    Too funny that Twatler chose to ignore Kate being the kiss of death for so many brands.

    But to call her Britain’s best dressed when she can’t even dress for her own body type or her age is just sad.

  14. Becks1 says:

    Do I think she looks better when she sticks to her old fashioned, relatively frumpy style? yes. do I think that there is always something “off” about her outfits? Yes. Wrong jewelry, wrong shoes, wrong fit, wrong length – those are things a stylist would help her with.

    But even when she looks nice (like the green dress at wimbledon for example), she’s not setting the fashion world on fire. She just looks fine.

    All that to say – yeah this is an emotional support thing lol.

  15. IdlesAtCranky says:

    Ah ha ha ha ha ha *gasp choke*

    Sorry, please excuse me, that went down the wrong way.

    I’ll see myself out. Need to go buy an ugly hat, a padded coatdress, some boring tiny necklaces, and about four dozen pairs of beige shoes…

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