The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have joined a dazzling array of stars at the Royal Variety Performance show.
Kate, who is four months pregnant with the couple’s third child, looked stunning in a crystal-embellished full-length blue gown.
Tonight, the royals will watch a stellar line-up of artists including James Blunt, Louis Tomlinson, Paloma Faith and Seal at the evening gala hosted by Miranda Hart at the London Palladium.
With 89 shows spanning 105 years, the event is held in aid of the Entertainment Artistes’ Benevolent Fund of which the Queen is patron.
The evening will be hosted by Miranda Hart and will also include performances from The Killers and The Script.
The couple last attended the event in 2014 when Kate, who was then pregnant with Princess Charlotte, showed off her burgeoning bump in a black lace gown from Diane von Furstenberg – a dress also owned by Prince Harry’s girlfriend and rumoured fiancée, Meghan Markle.
Arriving in style: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined a dazzling array of stars at the Royal Variety Performance show. Kate, who is four months pregnant with the couple’s third child, looked stunning in a crystal-embellished, blue gown
Harry, who is tipped to announce his engagement to Miss Markle any day now, attended back in 2015 when he met stars including Elton John and Jack White.
The Royal Variety Performance dates back to 1912 when King George V and Queen Mary – William’s great-great grandparents – agreed to attend a Royal Command Performance at the Palace Theatre in London.
The first instalment was in aid of the Variety Artistes’ Benevolent Fund and its proposed plans to build an extension to its Brinsworth House home for elderly entertainers.
A second royal show was performed in July 1919 and billed as a celebration of post-war peace.
It became an annual event at the suggestion of George V in 1921, when the King decreed that ‘the monarch or a senior member of the Royal Family, would attend an annual performance, in aid of Brinsworth House and the Royal Variety Charity, once a year thereafter’.
This was to demonstrate the Royal family’s ‘love and support for the entertainment industry and its associated charity’.
Lavish evening: The Royal Variety Performance dates back to 1912 when King George V and Queen Mary – William’s great-great grandparents – agreed to attend a Royal Command Performance at the Palace Theatre in London
Today, it is watched by an estimated 152 million viewers worldwide, bringing the cream of international talent to the London stage – making it the most successful and longest running entertainment show in the world.
The money raised from the show helps hundreds of entertainers throughout the UK, who need help and assistance as a result of old age, ill-health, or hard times.
Traditionally, the Queen has taken it in turns with the Prince of Wales to attend the show, but Harry, William and Kate’s repeated attendance is a demonstration of how the younger members of the family are increasingly stepping in to help the Queen in her tenth decade.
Charles and Camilla watched the performance in 2013, while the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh last went in the Diamond Jubilee year of 2012.
Kate, 35, returned to royal duties in October after battling a bout of hyperemesis gravidarum, an acute form of severe morning sickness, which forced the couple to announce their baby news earlier than planned.
Bedbound at Kensington Palace, she was forced to miss Prince George’s first day of school at Thomas’s Battersea.