Look closely at Kate Middleton’s latest outfits and you’ll notice a pattern: green.
Five of her last seven public appearances have featured a verdant hue. She’s worn everything from classic olive to bold emerald, styling each shade in very different ways.
She chose the colour to present the Wimbledon men’s trophy in front of millions of television viewers back in July, and for the far more intimate moment of dropping Prince George off for his first day at Eton earlier this month. Last week, she turned to earthy olive for a series of engagements on the Isle of Bute in rainy Scotland.
Green is hardly new to Kate’s wardrobe, of course. The Princess has worn it regularly throughout her years in the royal family. But rarely, if ever, has she returned to one colour with such frequency over a run of appearances.
Kate’s fondness for green is no surprise. She has told several children that it is her favourite colour because it "reminds her of nature and being outside".
It is also a particularly timely choice as autumn approaches, with moss, forest and olive green emerging as key shades for the season. (Will we see a return of the olive green Victoria Beckham suit - below - from 2025?)
From dramatic occasionwear and business-chic tailoring to an earthy country ensemble, here are five very different ways Kate has worn her apparent new-season favourite.
1. Olive occasionwear at Wimbledon
The Wimbledon men’s final was a spectacle for sports fans, but for fashion enthusiasts, the Princess’s olive green midi dress stole the show.
Kate made the colour feel suitably special for the trophy presentation, choosing an olive midi dress from Emilia Wickstead, based on the label’s Tidus dress from its Resort 2026 collection.
The dress featured a bold asymmetric cape overlay, crossover gathering at the waist and a longer panel that fell over one arm.
The dress was a sophisticated interpretation of olive green, with the dramatic draping elevating a shade more commonly associated with casual or military-inspired clothing.
The colour may also have been a subtle nod to Wimbledon’s famous green-and-purple brand colours. Kate does famously love a sartorial Easter egg.
The Princess completed her Wimbledon look with warm neutrals and gold: her DeMellier Nano Montreal bag in Toffee, a pair of Van Cleef & Arpels earrings and her current-favourite Ralph Lauren heels. The accessories complemented the olive green, giving the outfit a rich and glamorous feel.
2. A racing-green blazer with summer whites
Kate’s next public appearance took place at another sporting event two weeks later: the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
This time, Kate opted for a lighter look. She wore a dark racing-green Ralph Lauren blazer with an otherwise crisp white-and-striped outfit. The blazer was the hero of the look.
Kate paired the blazer with a featherweight Breton-striped sweater vest from La Ligne and a white sunray-pleated skirt by Christopher Kane.
The combination showed how effectively deep green can replace navy in a classic summer wardrobe: it worked just as easily with Breton stripes and white, but made the outfit feel fresher and more distinctive.
There was a pleasing Scottish connection, too. Christopher Kane was born in Newarthill, near Glasgow, making the skirt an appropriate choice for the Games, whether deliberately selected as a sartorial nod or simply a happy coincidence.
3. Deep green with chocolate brown at Eton
After the summer hiatus, the Princess returned to green once again, this time for a huge milestone: Prince George’s first day at Eton. The mother of three chose another bespoke design by Emilia Wickstead.
The long-sleeved dress struck the right note for the occasion: polished and formal enough without appearing overly ceremonial.
Kate paired the frock with chocolate-brown suede pumps and chunky gold jewellery. Brown made a softer alternative to black and brought out the warmth in the deep green, creating an elegant early-autumn palette she would revisit on Bute a little more than a week later.
4. Emerald silk with polished black accessories
Three days later, the Princess chose a brighter, jewel-toned green for a visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital.
She brought back her Suzannah London emerald Flippy Wiggle dress, a vintage-inspired, tea-length shirt dress made from Italian silk crepe with elbow-length sleeves and a soft, flowing skirt.
Kate first wore the green dress during a visit to the Anna Freud Centre in May 2023 (pictured below). She also owns the same design in white and has worn that version five times, making the Flippy Wiggle something of a wardrobe staple.
For the hospital visit, the Princess styled the emerald silk dress with black Camilla Elphick Lucia slingbacks and delicate diamond jewellery from Mappin & Webb.
The green-and-black pairing felt smart and trans-seasonal, while the diamonds introduced a little sparkle without competing with the saturated colour of the dress.
5. Olive knitwear for a country-casual look
Kate’s most relaxed recent interpretation of the colour came during a visit to the Isle of Bute earlier this week.
For a day that included playing shinty, joining a beach clean and climbing into a tractor in the rain, the Princess chose a dark olive green ribbed roll-neck beneath a brown Burberry trench coat. Chocolate-brown Holland Cooper Jodhpur Jeans, suede ankle boots and a patterned Maison Hôtel belt completed the practical country ensemble.
As the rain arrived, Kate added a green accessory, a herringbone baker-boy cap believed to be the House of Bruar’s Ladies’ Tweed Eight-Piece Cap.
The combination of olive, tweed and chocolate brown placed green firmly in neutral territory. Rather than acting as the statement colour, it became part of an earthy, easy-to-mix palette suited to the country setting.
It’s a colour combination she returns to time and again, and one that has become a central part of her countrywear uniform.
Due to technological problems, comments are disabled for now. Please check back later—I am going to attempt to install Disqus. This is likely to be the commenting system I use going forward.