Kate Middleton proved she is the queen of the rewear yesterday as she replicated an outfit she wore in 2006 to attend a St David’s Day parade.
The Princess of Wales, 41, was accompanying her husband, Prince William, who was making his first visit to the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards at Combermere Barracks in Windsor as their newly appointed Colonel of the Regiment on St David’s Day.
The royal mother-of-three opted for a vibrant Alexander McQueen coat for the occasion, which she paired with black accessories and a distinctive fascinator by Juliette Botterill.
The look was remarkably similar to one that she had worn 17 years ago to attend the Prince’s graduation parade from Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst.
The Princess even opted to wear the same distinctive pair of black leather gloves for both occasions, which featured cut-out detailing.
Kate Middleton, 41, proved she is the queen of the rewear yesterday as she replicated an outfit she wore in 2006 to attend a St David’s Day parade (left, 2006, and right, yesterday)
The gloves are by the Serbian designer Evica Milovanov Penezić.
The Sandhurst parade was particularly significant occasion for both William and Kate – it was her first official appearance alongside the Royal Family.
Kate wore glamorous make-up with pink lipstick and a dark smoky eye during yesterday’s appearance.
And unlike 2006, when she wore her hair loose around her shoulders, yesterday she swept her locks into an intricate updo.
It’s not the first time that the Princess has worn a piece which has long been in her wardrobe.
In fact, many of her favourite pieces have come from her late twenties and early thirties, years before she gave birth to each of her children, Prince George, born in 2013, Princess Charlotte, born in 2015 and Prince Louis, born in 2018.
Over the last few years, Kate, who is known for her thrifty nature and sustainable fashion, has stepped out in a series of older pieces from her wardrobe.
She recycled a dress she first wore in 2011 to attend Prince William’s Earthshot Prize Awards.
The look was remarkably similar to one that she had worn 17 years ago to attend the Prince’s graduation parade from Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst
The Sandhurst parade was particularly significant occasion for both William and Kate – it was her first official appearance alongside the Royal Family
Meanwhile she also stepped out in an Alexander McQueen blouse first worn months after her wedding to William as she visited the Imperial War in the autumn.
Proving she has been dedicated to rewearing outfits since the start of her royal career, the Duchess has regularly stepped out in a £495 scarlet Luisa Spagnoli skirt suit.
She first wore the piece as a 29-year-old making a nostalgic trip back to St Andrews University in 2011 for only her second public engagement with William.
Yesterday’s visit saw Kate impressed by nine-year-old Thomas Lucas, who managed to steal the show when he decided to perform an impromptu backflip.
Speaking to Thomas afterwards, the princess said his backflip had been ‘extraordinary’ and that she had been ‘super impressed’.
She asked his parents ‘who he gets his back-flipping talents from’ and Thomas responded that he had taught himself.
The Princess also wore the unusual pair of black leather gloves with cut-out detailing for both occasions (pictured yesterday)
The royal mother-of-three opted for a vibrant Alexander McQueen coat for the occasion, which she paired with black accessories and a distinctive fascinator by Juliette Botterill
The princess appeared amused when a young boy performed a somersault for her at the event yesterday
The primary school pupil explained to the royal visitor that he was really into ‘parkour’, a popular type of ‘free running’ that involves athletically vaulting, jumping and climbing over obstacles to get from one point to another as quickly as possible.
Kate – who had referred to it as dancing – said ‘not dancing sorry – I need to learn all this lingo I’m not very good at it’.
Speaking after the parade, Thomas’ father, Sergeant Gareth Lucas, joked that it was typical behaviour for his son, calling him ‘non-stop’.
Pointing at both of his boys, he said: ’They’re both into parkour now, they go to classes every week.
‘Thomas self-taught himself backflips on YouTube – he just came home from school one day saying ‘I’ve learned to do a backflip’”.
The nine-year-old said it was ‘actually quite nerve-wracking because I didn’t really land it,’ but added that the Princess was ‘impressed’.
He then demonstrated it again, as the princess stood behind him, for the benefit of the cameras.
The Prince of Wales, meanwhile, handed out symbolic leeks to the soldier’s families to commemorate the day of national celebration for Wales.
The Princess appeared particularly excited ahead of the parade as she prepared to watch her husband take part
He also praised them as a ‘formidable group of soldiers’, expressing his father’s ‘fierce pride and admiration’ for the Welsh Guards.
He said: ‘I am both honoured and delighted to be standing here in front of you today as your new Colonel.
‘At the same time, I’m sorry that my father couldn’t be here with us here today to say farewell, but I know he would talk of his fierce pride and admiration for you all, and of his own sadness to be moving on from an appointment he held so dear since 1975.
‘The Welsh Guards have always been a formidable group of soldiers; raised for war in 1915, then leading the way on operations ever since.’
He also recalled that his memories with The Welsh Guards Sniper Platoon Salisbury Plain are ‘some of my best’ and added: ‘Another key milestone in my life was also shared with the Welsh Guards, this time in the Jungles of Belize as I received my A-Level results over the Bowman Radio…
‘Many of you will know the feeling of being in the jungle; you’re incredibly hot, continuously soaking wet and with nowhere to hide from potentially horrendous results, it could have been a really bad day!
‘Ultimately though, it was the camaraderie, the togetherness, and of course the banter of the Welsh Guards that got me through that period, and it’s a time I look back on fondly.’
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