Sunday, 7th March 2021—Kensington Palace shared a video showing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (William and Kate) speaking to Dr Zolelwa Sifumba, an advocate for healthcare workers in South Africa. The video is excerpted from ‘A Celebration for Commonwealth Day,’ a BBC television programme that aired the same evening.
Usually, the Royal Family attend a service at Westminster Abbey to observe Commonwealth Day. However, this year, the television programme replaced the service due to the pandemic. The full broadcast included the Queen delivering her annual Commonwealth Day address and featured other members of the Royal Family joining in the celebrations and talking about why Great Britain’s Commonwealth links are so important. William and Kate chat to medical, charity and voluntary staff across the Commonwealth.
You can watch the full programme on BBC iPlayer or YouTube (below). I have started the video above at the 42-minute mark, which is where William and Kate’s section begins but you can easily skip it back to the beginning if you prefer. Sections of the programme were filmed at Westminster Abbey and include “voices from across the world” alongside music and readings.
Commonwealth Day is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations (a voluntary political association of 54 independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire). The day always falls on the second Monday in March.
Kate’s outfit:
The Duchess brought back her Emilia Wickstead ‘Kate’ Dress for the recording.
She first wore the garment in 2019, for an engagement with the National Emergencies Trust. This is her fourth wear of the piece to-date (for official business at least. Of course, she may have worn this dress more times in private). It features a midi-length A-line skirt, waist detailing, a slim-fitting bodice, a bateau neckline and bracelet-length sleeves. Kate owns the piece in two other shades too: lavender purple and forest green.
When Kate first wore the dress in purple back in 2016, the dress didn’t feature in any recent Emilia Wickstead collection, so we assumed it was bespoke, made just for Kate. Later, Wickstead released the dress as part of her off-the-rack collection with the name Kate, clearly named after the Duchess. It came in pink, red and navy and had a slightly shorter skirt length and without the belt detail Kate wears. It retailed at Matches Fashion for £1,350—but is no longer available, sadly. A look at the three dresses:
Onto Kate’s pearl earrings now. She sported a pair of gold and pearl hoops. The Telegraph reports they’re Mejuri‘s Organic Pearl Stacked Hoops (£60).
The earrings feature freshwater cultured pearls stacked onto vermeil (18ct gold on sterling silver) hoops.
The Telegraph describes Mejuri as “an affordable brand creating the kind of pieces women want to buy for themselves.”
Note: Some bloggers/fans are questioning if this ID is correct. The Telegraph writer seems pretty certain that Kate wore Mejuri’s earrings, but they do not mention if the brand confirmed Kate purchased them for certain. The fans think somebody may be mistaken somewhere because Kate’s earrings seem larger with an additional pearl. I personally think Kate is wearing the Mejuri pair but I will try and find out for certain and update.
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