Kate Middleton brightened the day for residents at the Oxford House Nursing Home in Slough on Tuesday afternoon. The Princess of Wales visited the award-winning nursing home to chat with residents, tour the facilities, and with it being Shrove Tuesday, demonstrate her prowess for pancake-flipping—or not as it turned out. As always, she looked effortlessly chic in her navy outfit and camel coat.
The Princess toured the family-run nursing home. From the photos and video footage I’ve seen, she sat and spoke with many residents.
She witnessed the high-quality, patient-focussed care that Oxford House is renowned for and heard more about the cutting edge interactive technology they’re using to stimulate and enrich the daily lives of residents.
Gadgets include an interactive wall used to support residents with dementia and an interactive sensory table, both shown below:
Residents marked Shrove Tuesday with a pancake-making activity. Of course, Kate had an attempt. “A congealed blob” is how she described her creation. Oh dear. You can watch the moment she cooked and flipped the pancake below (at approximately 1:11).
Let’s move on to her outfit now.
Kate Middleton’s Outfit at Oxford House Nursing Home:
The Princess mixed a number of old and new items for today’s look. Let’s start by looking at her gorgeous camel coat by Max & Co.
It’s known as the Longrun style. The coat is crafted from 100% wool. It features a lapel collar, slip pockets and a matching self-tie waist belt. We’ve yet to see Kate wear the coat belted.
We’ve seen her in the coat twice before: to visit the city of Scarborough in November 2022 and then later in the same month at the Reading Ukrainian Cultural Centre.
If you want to recreate Kate’s chic look, you can buy the camel coat for £442 / $461 at Yoox.com (part of the Net-A-Porter group if you weren’t already familiar with the brand.)
EXACT MATCH – Max & Co Longrun Coat in Camel
Recreate Kate’s chic look with this camel coat by Max & Co.
Max&Co is a bold and vibrant contemporary fashion brand from Italy, launched by the Max Mara group in 1986. We’ve spotted Kate in a bunch of designs from the group over the last decade including a jacket by Max Mara, two coats from Max&Co, various dresses and a coat from MaxMara Studio, plus two coats from SportMax—I’ve shared a selection of designs in the gallery below.
The Princess wore her camel coat over an all-navy outfit, including a roll neck knit and a pair of wide-leg trousers and matching accessories.
The knit is currently unidentified, though some detective work by Middleton Maven has led to the Ralph Lauren Cashmere Turtleneck as an option.
The ribbed cuffs, ribbed roll-neck and type/colour of fabric do seem to match upon closer inspection. Plus, Kate’s worn quite a lot from Ralph Lauren over the years, so I wouldn’t be surprised to learn this ID is correct.
UPDATE: Having looked really closely at the top on Kate’s shoulder (below left) and the Ralph Lauren model’s shoulder (below, right), I’ve noticed that both feature a distinctive, thick seam. So I’d say the sweaters are a match.
Want to buy the sweater? It’s available at Ralph Lauren and Bergdorfs.
I believe the Princess has worn the blue knit in public a few times before—I think under the suits pictured below? I can’t say for certain.
The clever folks over at UFO NO MORE identified Kate’s trousers—they’re new (to us at least). They’re the Roland Mouret Lucanus style.
The wide-leg wool crêpe trousers feature a figure-flattering flared cut. They have a distinctive seam across the back of the trousers and on the hips, which led to their identification.
It appears that Roland Mouret have offered the trousers in a number of shades at one time or another, including the navy as seen on Kate and the pink shown above. It looks like Yoox have the navy in stock (size US8 only) for $193. A pale pink version is available for $665 (down from $950) at MyTheresa (again, only limited sizes left in stock).
Kate’s worn Roland Mouret for years, we first spotted her wearing a dress from the designer at Heathrow Airport in 2011, ahead of her first official overseas tour (of North America). She’s continued to wear gowns and tailoring from the French fashion house ever since.
The Princess wore her navy block heel pumps by Emmy London under her blue trousers.
The dark midnight blue pumps are made from luxurious soft suede and come with lined with leather and finished with a comfortable padded insole for all-day wear. The classic shoe features a pointed toe and an 85mm block heel. They retail for £425.
The shoe is fast becoming one of Kate’s go-to styles. The Princess has worn them to 12 or 13 public engagements since their debut in 2019 (baring in mind, for a lot of the following year, we didn’t see her shoes as most engagements took place via Zoom due to the pandemic!)
If you want to copy Kate’s look—right down to her footwear—you’re in luck. The Josie shoe is a staple for Emmy and the London brand still sell the design in an array of colours today.
EXACT MATCH! Emmy London Josie Block Heel Pumps in Midnight Blue
If you need a pair of stylish heels for work or a special occasion, Emmy London’s Josie is about to become your new go-to shoe!
The Princess is a devoted fan of Emmy London, she owns over a dozen pairs of their heels. She also carries an equally impressive collection of the British brand’s handbags.
Kate accessorised with her Polène Paris bag.
It’s the Numéro Sept (or Number Seven) Mini in blue leather. The dainty bag is handmade in Spain from textured leather and is finished with a gold plated stainless steel clasp. The interior is lined with suede.
At the time of writing, the bag is no longer available in the same blue carried by Kate. It can be pre-ordered in another shade of blue on Polène’s website for $420 USD or £320 GBP. They ship in late March. A number of other colours are available now for the same price.
Kate’s carried the bag on two prior occasions. To the Glade of Light Memorial Garden in Manchester, during a visit to commemorate Manchester Arena bombing victims in May 2022, and for a visit to Scotland for a series of engagements concerning early childhood, homelessness and mental health in the same month.
Polène is a relatively new leather goods brand that was founded in Paris in 2016. We’ve not seen the Princess carry anything other item from the company, to date, from my knowledge.
Finally, let’s look at Kate’s new blue button earrings. They feature a gold lattice design.
At present, the whole community is searching for these earrings, to no avail.
If anybody identifies them, I’ll drop an update here. I found a few David Webb designs that are similar—but sadly nothing close enough to provide an ID.
Tie the hair back when cooking.
I like the column of color (blue) with the coat, it’s a nice look. The length of the trousers would bother me though if I was wearing them, they are a potential tripping hazard. I do think a richer shade of camel would look better, but it’s a nice enough coat. I’d probably follow the late queen’s idea of wearing a brooch on her coats, especially here where things are quite minimalist.
The handbag would look better as a cross body and would look great with the coat worn that way.
Good style notes! I do like a cross-body with a coat worn like that. A simple brooch would have worked well with the outfit too!
I feel as though I am starting to sound mean and should stop commenting about Kate’s fashion. I see the photos from years ago when she wore a variety of items and I miss seeing the different looks
It is starting to remind me of the days when Jennifer Aniston wore the same cargo trousers and top so the paps couldn’t get a different photo of her running errands
While Kate looks professional and appropriate, I miss a bit of variety. Same things and different colors over and over with the long coat, wide trousers, sweater and flap handbag.
She’s definitely doing something like that—making her outfits as boring as possible. A lot of mixing and matching old pieces. I think for two reasons, sustainability and to try and ensure focus is on her work, not her wardrobe.
It’s not gone unnoticed…
Carly, I agree with you. I think Catherine wants a working wardrobe so that the emphasis is on what she is doing and not what she is wearing. The exceptions being of course, dressing for those evenings out and the glittering Tiara events.
Maggie
“Working Wardrobe” – perfectly put.
To be honest, I think a lot of us do this anyway? E.g. buy the same dress in a few different colours for work? I know I do!
Yes, I think establishing a working wardrobe for her is a very good move because then hopefully the emphasis is on the work, not the clothing. I only follow her for the wardrobe stuff, though – so I’m probably shooting myself in the foot. LOL.
Hi Carly – here is an auction link for the David Webb earrings in blue —
https://www.freemansauction.com/auction/lot/131-18-karat-yellow-gold-and-enamel-earrings-david-webb/?lot=484596&sd=1
Still not the true ID but at least in blue!
Kris Ward, I feel the same. I like to read about her work, but I’m superficial and the fashion comes first.
The Queen had her uniform, Camila has her standard A-line dresses, Anne wears her 1970’s clothing and Sophie wears her 50’s dresses with the long skirts. I like the variety Catherine used to display. It has been fairly quiet the last year with her fashion. I want the fashion and her work. Together she is her most interesting self. I take her seriously. I don’t need to see her in such serious attire this frequently. She can dress like this in her 50’s. With good fortune her 50’s will come, but she is young and at some point she will have to abandon some of the younger styles.
I have a guess on the earrings. They may be vintage Ciner NY. I can’t find an exact photo., but they made many high end costume earrings like this in the 1980’s – many which gained popularity with the fashion designers in their runway shows. After 130 years, Ciner closed in late 2022. The third generation owner, Pat Ciner Hill, just passed on Feb 5, 2023. All very relevant reasons these may be coming back into vogue. My best guess though, is that these could belong to Carole Middleton or even Princess Diana, who wore similar styles in the 1980’s.
Thanks for the info! Looking on Google, Ciner is a good bet.
https://www.etsy.com/in-en/listing/870905504/ciner-oversized-chunky-earrings-ciner
I think they’ll be vintage, whether they belonged to Diana or Carole – or perhaps Kate picked them up from a vintage shop like her bag/dress from the Jamaica tour.
As you say, these earrings are coming back into vogue. There seems to be a resurgence of ‘retro’ fashion at the moment. I welp as I write that because the youngsters are including the 90s in their definition of retro and to me, it feels like the 90s took place just five minutes ago!
I love her belts! Any intel on brand?
Sorry, this one has had us stumped for years. She’s worn it loads but we’ve never managed to identify it.