Kate Middleton chose a stylish blue coat dress by Catherine Walker for Wednesday’s royal ceremony in Edinburgh. The Duchess of Rothesay, as she’s known north of the border, looked elegant in the frock as she attended what’s been dubbed as the “Scottish Coronation”.
The blue coat dress came as no surprise—she clearly chose the colour in a clear nod to the host nation. Blue represents Scotland’s national identity and is the primary colour of its flag.
Let’s take a look at Kate’s all blue ensemble:
Kate Middleton’s blue coat dress in Scotland:
This isn’t the first time we’re seeing Kate’s vibrant cobalt blue coat dress – it’s actually its third outing.
The Princess debuted the garment on Commonwealth Day back in 2022. And, if you remember, it had a second run, earlier this year, at Easter.
The coat dress, a bespoke design from Catherine Walker, was tailormade for the Princess. It looks like a blend of the label’s Magda and Mayfair designs:
The coat features flap pockets, oversized covered buttons, a flared mid-length skirt, and an added touch of blue velvet trim around the collar.
If you’re keen to own a similar piece, you’d need to reach out directly to Catherine Walker and Co. They offer consultations both in their London store and online to help you create your own stunning ensemble.
The Princess has been a loyal patron of Catherine Walker since becoming part of the royal family. The label is her go-to for her official engagements and overseas tours. Catherine Walker, the brand’s late founder, was a favourite of Princess Diana for her sophisticated and timeless creations. Following her passing in 2010, Walker’s husband, Said Cyrus, has led the brand along with her experienced design team.
The Princess wore a Philip Treacy hat to the service.
Laura quickly identified the hat. She saw it on the milliner’s Instagram page in a post referencing Royal Ascot:
The hat features an oversized sculptural quill-like detail on the side.
The Princess has certainly favoured Philip Treacy for all major recent royal events. She chose hats by the milliner for this year’s Royal Ascot, Order of the Garter and Trooping the Colour.
Kate’s scalloped clutch bag remains a mystery. Some think it’s by Anya Hindmarch but to be honest, I don’t where that theory has come from—I’ve not seen any similar pieces from the British designer. It might be that somebody saw Hindmarch quoted in article or saw a similar bag for sale on a pre-loved site, I’m not sure.
Onto Kate’s jewellery now.
The Princess wore a necklace owned by the late Queen Elizabeth, it’s known as the “Japanese Pearl Necklace”. The media report via Gerrard (the Crown jewellers for 150 years) that the Queen commissioned the necklace from a set of fine cultured pearls presented to her by the Japanese government.
The stunning item features four rows of pearls that surround a curved diamond clasp. Kate debuted the piece at the Queen and Prince Philip’s 70th wedding anniversary dinner party. She also chose the necklace for Prince Philip’s funeral and The Queen’s funeral.
Kate paired the necklace with two other pearl pieces that once belonged to Diana, the Collingwood Pearl Drop Earrings and the Nigel Milne triple-strand pearl bracelet.
I’ll let The Court Jeweller describe the earrings:
The earrings feature a round diamond stud, from which is suspended an additional round diamond and a bell cap set with three more rows of small diamonds. The bell caps each contain a lovely pearl drop.
As most of my regular readers will know, the earrings were a gift to Diana, Princess of Wales, from Collingwood, a jewellery firm that was a favourite of the Spencer family.
Diana wore the earrings on numerous occasions, with both daywear and formal attire. She often paired them other pearl pieces.
We first saw Kate debut the earrings during the Spanish state visit in 2017.
I’ve just noticed there’s a decent replica of the Collingwood Pearl Drops on Etsy:
Click here if you’d like to add the replica earrings to your own collection.
As previously mentioned, Kate also wore Diana’s triple-strand pearl bracelet, it’s by Nigel Milne.
About the bracelet from a blog post on the jeweller’s website:
[It] was designed by me and featured in our 1988/1989 jewellery catalogue. In 1988 we decided to produce some jewellery and donate the proceeds from their sales to the charity, BIRTHRIGHT. For personal reasons Cherry and I had become supporters of this charity, Sir George Pinker, Cherry’s gynaecologist, being its President and The Princess of Wales its Patron.
The three items that we chose for our Birthright Collection were a pair of diamond bow and pearl drop earrings, a diamond half eternity ring and a three row pearl bracelet with diamond and pearl spacers and clasp.
This is the bracelet that Princess Diana wore on several occasions including at the Birthright Ball in 1989 and with her iconic Catherine Walker ‘Elvis’ dress in Hong Kong and has now been seen adorning the Duchess of Cambridge!This look was very typical of the style of jewellery that we were making at that time.
Let’s finish up by looking at Kate’s blue heels from Emmy London. They’re the Rebecca pumps in Cobalt.
The electric blue court shoes feature a pointed toe and a 105mm straight heel. The shoes are handmade to order in Portugal from suede and leather. RRP: £415. Click here to view on Emmy’s website.
This is the second time Kate wore the shoes. She first debuted them during a visit to Belize in March 2022.
Notice for my regular readers: sorry this post is so late and lite on detail. I’ve been under the weather since a family camping trip!
Better late than never! Hope you are feeling much better now.
I really liked this outfit on the Princess. The solid single colour worked well against everyone else’s regalia and robes. As you pointed out, the colour was a reference to Scotland, as was the Bonnet with feather look of the hat.
She wore good pearls but didn’t wear anything that would detract attention from the Monarchs whose day it mainly was,
“[she] didn’t wear anything that would detract attention from the Monarchs whose day it mainly was”
Very good point 🙂
I hope you feel better very soon.
Thank you, feeling much better today! Though I have managed to pull my back out doing “children’s yoga” with my daughter of all things!
Hope you are feeling better, Carly!
On the ensemble, the coat is fine, color is great and I like those shoes with it (even though I would never be able to walk in them myself). Blue is a very nice color on Kate and it’s a nod to the Scottish flag which is thoughtful. These Catherine Walker coats aren’t a favorite of mine, they seem ‘mumsy’ to me, but I guess she must like them since she has so many.
Love the earrings and the bracelet. I would like the necklace if it didn’t have that strange center piece. I wouldn’t want that pointy thing so close to my throat like that and it just seems to be begging to have a large center stone in it.
Really not a fan of that hat at all.
I could have written this entire post 😉
Exactly my thoughts