Kate keeps it casual in Cumbria: Duchess dresses down for outdoor activities

On the 21st of September 2021, the Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton) visited the Lake District in Cumbria.  She spent the day outdoors taking part in activities to highlight the beneficial, lifelong impact that nature can have on young people.  

Kate’s passionate about the outdoors and believes it plays a pivotal role in children and young people’s future health and happiness.  She believes that spending time in nature helps build foundations that last over a lifetime by encouraging active exploration and the opportunity to form and strengthen positive relationships.

At the start of the day, the Duchess joined a group of Air Cadets. Kate and the youngsters took part in mountain biking and abseiling activities.

Both child mental health and the benefits of spending time outdoors are focal points for the Duchess.  She has long advocated the benefits of spending time in nature during her work as a royal. 

Above:  Kate at the Natural History Museum learning about their Urban Nature Project in June 2021; Kate building her ‘Back To Nature Garden’ for the Royal Chelsea Flower Show in May 2019; Kate visiting a Forest School run by a charity trust in London; Kate visiting a London school that took part in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Campaign for School Gardening. 

Kate’s visit also marked the opening of the RAF Air Cadets’ Windermere Adventure Training Centre following its £2m refit. The centre will enable hundreds of cadets from across the UK to be able to visit the Lake District each year and take part in a wide variety of activities, allowing them to build their confidence and leadership skills and achieve their Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

Watch a highlight of Kate’s time with the Air Cadets below:

Next, the Duchess embarked on a boat trip with Ike and Arek, two of the Windermere Children. The Windermere Children were a group of 300 child Holocaust survivors who went to stay in the Lake District in 1945 for a period of recuperation following the atrocities they experienced in concentration camps and the ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe.  Here are some pictures of the Windermere Children (shared by the Kensington Palace Twitter account):

Kate heard the two survivors’ stories and spoke about the ways in which their time in the lakes and the innovative support that they received at the Calgarth Estate—including outdoor recreation, sport and art therapy—allowed them to be able to begin to heal from the trauma of their childhood experiences.

Following the boat trip, Kate published the following statement on her social media pages:

Following the atrocities experienced in the concentration camps in 1945, a group of 300 child Holocaust survivors came here, to the Lake District, to heal from the trauma of their childhood experiences.

This group of children were called the ‘Windermere Children’. I wanted to be able to meet some of the survivors Ike & Arek in person to hear their stories; about how they went on to create their own companies, write a book & to this day, still sneak in the odd round of golf.

It was so powerful to hear how their time in the Lakes enjoying outdoor recreation, sport and art therapy, allowed them to be able to begin to rebuild their lives and eventually, their families here in the UK.

Duchess of Cambridge via Twitter

Pictured above and below: Kate with Ike and Arek.

Below, video footage of Kate meeting the survivors:

Kate’s last engagement of the day took place at the Jetty Museum. Here, the Duchess learnt about the work of the Lake District Holocaust Project.  The Project aims to document and educate the public about the experiences of the Windermere Children.  The Duchess met with relatives of survivors and heard about how their loved ones’ time in  Cumbria helped them to go on to build successful lives in the UK. 

Some of our British readers will recognise a face in the photo above: TV personality and Barrister Judge Robert Rinder (second from left). Judge Rinder is from a Jewish family and his maternal grandfather was a Holocaust survivor and one of the 300 Windermere Children. 

On Twitter, Rinder spoke of meeting Kate following the trip to the Jetty Museum. He wrote, “What a profoundly generous & mindful listener she is. Her enduring service & authentic desire to learn from every community does our nation proud.” Below, a photograph shared to Robert Rinder’s Twitter page:

Kate has met with Holocaust survivors on several different occasions since joining the Royal Family in 2011. You may recall that last January, she invited Yvonne Bernstein and Steven Frank, two Holocaust survivors, to Kensington Palace.  She photographed them for a special exhibition to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust.  She took portraits of the two survivors and their respective grandchildren.   Below, Kate’s portraits and a behind-the-scenes shot of her with Mr Frank and his granddaughters.

The two portraits can be viewed at the Imperial War Museum in London until January 2022.

Earlier this year, to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, Kate spoke with Zigi Shipper and Manfred Goldberg, two survivors she met at Stutthof, a former Nazi Germany Concentration Camp in Poland, during her visit to the country in 2017.

It is so difficult to segue from serious topics to those more frivolous, like fashion. However, I appreciate that this is, after all, a style blog and many of my readers are here to learn about Kate’s sartorial choices, which I do enjoy writing about. So here we go:

Kate’s outfit:

Kate began the day wearing her Seeland Hawker jacket.  A casual sports jacket that’s perfect for outdoor pursuits! This is the third time we’ve spotted Kate wearing the green jacket. 

The lightweight quilted jacket has an insulating lining and can be packed into a pouch.  It features a contrasting orange zip. It costs £64.99 at Seeland.com.  Though, I’ve found it for a discounted price of £51.99 ($66.99) at waveinn.com too.

Seeland is a Danish brand that sells clothing and footwear for hunting.  Kate also owns a coat from the brand.

For the rest of the day’s engagements, Kate wore a smart-casual jacket by Really Wild. It’s their “Belted Jacket“. The longline jacket is made from 100% super-soft luxury Scottish wool Tweed, two flap pockets and a removable belt.  

Really Wild describe the piece as having a “slim-fit silhouette for a contemporary take on British sporting style”.  

I believe Kate is wearing the Ivy Green colourway as pictured below.  In the brand’s stock photo, the jacket looks very green.  However, in shots of the model wearing the jacket, it looks similar to the colour Kate is wearing, so I think it’s just a lighting issue.    

Unfortunately, the piece is sold out on the Really Wild website. There is a darker colour (khaki clementine) in stock at the time of writing.  It is available for £395.

Really Wild sell well-tailored luxury clothing, inspired by the country and designed for modern life. Founder and designer Natalie Lake launched the British brand more than 15 years ago.

Underneath the jacket, Kate wore an oatmeal-coloured knit. (You can see the hint of a gold necklace she’s wearing too.) UPDATE: Our friend Ashley @MiddletonMaven thinks the Duchess is wearing Boden’s cashmere knitted top in Smoky Quartz. As you can see, the necklines are very similar:

Both tops have the same ribbing around the bottom too. Looks like a great possibility to me! What do you think?

The t-shirt style top is made from 100% cosy cashmere sourced from Inner Mongolia. It has short sleeves, a semi-fitted shape, hits mid-hip and features rib detailing across the neck, cuffs and hem.

The ID (if correct) would make sense. Kate definitely shops with Boden. She’s worn a few different items from the brand over the last year or two:

Kate’s earrings are by Liv Thurlwell. They’re the British designer’s Gold Bobble Hoops. The earrings are made from silver and 18ct gold vermeil.   They’re currently available on backorder and cost £130.  The designer also sells the earrings in rose gold and silver.

Liv Thurlwell Jewellery is an artisanal jewellery brand. Liv is an independent designer who handcrafts her pieces in her studio in the English countryside. Each piece is responsibly made with processes that are eco-friendly and sustainable. The designer uses ethically sourced and recycled materials are used whenever possible.

This is the second time we’ve spotted the Duchess wearing the earrings. (The first time was for her COVID-19 vaccination earlier this year.)

Kate wore a pair of dark jeans for her day in the Lake District. No further information is known about them at the time of writing.

However, we do have information about Kate’s brown boots. They’re from See by Chloé.  The lace-up boots feature tonal leather trims and logo-embossed heel tabs on a chunky tread sole.  They retailed for $445 at Net-A-Porter.com.  (Sadly, no longer available).

The combat-style boots are a staple in the Duchess’s dressed-down wardrobe. I believe she’s worn them (during public engagements) 8 or 9 times to date. She first debuted them in 2019, for a visit to a community garden.

See is a diffusion line by French luxury brand Chloé.  It was launched over 20 years ago under the creative direction of Stella McCartney. Kate owns a dress by the brand too.

View more of Kate’s casual outfits on this page.