Kate Middleton returned to one of her prettiest green dresses for a visit to The Royal Marsden Hospital in London on Friday.
The Princess of Wales rewore her emerald ‘Flippy Wiggle’ dress by Suzannah London for the engagement, pairing it with black Camilla Elphick slingbacks and delicate Mappin & Webb diamond jewellery. (Full outfit details further down the page. Skip?)
The visit was deeply personal for the Princess. As many of you will remember, she received cancer treatment at The Royal Marsden in 2024.
On Friday, she learned more about how the money she raised through completing the National Three Peaks Challenge will support holistic cancer care at the hospital.
As I’m certain many of you will remember, earlier this summer Kate completed the challenge, climbing Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon within 24 hours to raise funds for the hospital trust’s Cancer Charity.
The money will help fund a new Centre for Holistic Wellbeing and Recovery, designed to complement clinical treatment with wider support for patients and their families. Kate visited the site where the centre will be built and heard more about the plans for the facility.
Funds raised through the challenge will also support research into how holistic therapies can work alongside clinical cancer treatment. The Princess has spoken warmly about the difference this broader approach made during her own treatment, highlighting the benefits of nature, nutrition and continued therapeutic support. She said she believed the new centre would be “transformative”.
Kate described completing the Three Peaks Challenge as her “small way” of giving something back to the hospital and once again thanked staff for the care she personally received.
The Princess also spent time with patients during Friday’s visit. She spoke with Sam Suriakumar, a 41-year-old father living with a brain tumour, and the pair discussed how their children had helped motivate them through their respective cancer journeys. Kate told him that “stories like yours are an inspiration”.
She also met patients in private side rooms and on a communal day ward where people were receiving treatments including chemotherapy.
Kate became Joint Patron of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust alongside Prince William in 2025.
Let’s start the fashion section of this post now:
Kate’s outfit:
I’m a big fan of this look and thought it was a perfect trans-seasonal look for that notoriously ‘in-betweeny’ weather.
The rich green-and-black palette feels right at home as we move into the ‘Ber’ months, while the floaty silk dress and slingback shoes still work beautifully for those lingering warm days at the tail end of summer.
Kate’s diamond jewellery added just the right amount of sparkle without overpowering the outfit. It also made an interesting contrast with the chunkier gold jewellery she has favoured during her other appearances this week.
I shall tell you about each piece in more detail now.
As I mentioned up top, the green dress is a Suzannah London piece. The British designer’s Flippy Wiggle Dress.
It’s a tea-length silk shirt dress inspired by a late-1940s design, cut from pure Italian silk crepe with a skimming bodice, softly flowing skirt, half-length sleeves, pin-tucks through the waist and yoke, and comes with a matching belt and contrasting silk-covered buttons. It is fully lined in lightweight silk habotai.
If you’d like to buy the green dress, you’re in luck. It remains available from Suzannah London and currently retails for £2,790.
Kate first wore the emerald dress in May 2023 during a visit to the Anna Freud Centre for Mental Health Awareness Week (below).
She also owns the same dress in white. It’s become something of a wardrobe staple. She’s worn it five times in public to date, including at Wimbledon, to the Grenfell Tower memorial service, during the Coronation Weekend (below), and during a visit to Evelina London Children’s Hospital earlier this year.
Suzannah London has long been a favourite in Kate’s wardrobe, particularly for polished day dresses and occasionwear.
Designer Suzannah Crabb is known for vintage-inspired silhouettes, luxurious fabrics and timeless pieces designed to be worn repeatedly rather than for a single season.
The Princess wore her matching ‘Empress’ set by Mappin & Webb with the dress. The white gold and diamond jewels added a touch of sparkle to the ensemble.
The delicate circular design comes from the jeweller’s Empress collection, which draws inspiration from an historic motif once presented by Mappin & Webb to the Queen of Siam in the 1920s.
Kate first wore the earrings for Princess Charlotte’s christening in July 2015 and has brought them back repeatedly over the years for royal engagements, sporting events and mental-health-related appearances.
I believe the exact earring style Kate is wearing is an older design from the Empress Line. They’re no longer available to buy. A similar pair with fewer diamonds available here.
The Princess also wore her matching Empress Mini pendant necklace.
The necklace features a 0.40-carat arrangement of round brilliant-cut diamonds set in 18-carat white gold, suspended from an 18-inch chain.
Kate has owned the necklace for more than a decade, first wearing it publicly in 2014. It has accompanied her to everything from Princess Charlotte’s christening and Trooping the Colour to engagements connected with Heads Together and Shout.
Together, the matching pieces added a subtle touch of luxury to Friday’s outfit without competing with the strong emerald colour of the dress.
Mappin & Webb has featured in Kate’s jewellery box for well over a decade. One of her earliest pieces from the British jeweller was the Fortune Drop Necklace, which she debuted in December 2013. Her Empress earrings are among her most frequently reworn jewels, appearing at more than 25 public engagements to date.
There’s a wider royal connection too. Mappin & Webb have supplied the Royal Household for generations and have held Royal Warrants since the reign of Queen Victoria.
The company’s master jeweller has also served as Crown Jeweller, responsible for the care of the Crown Jewels, since 2012.
Let’s finish the post with Kate’s shoes, the Camilla Elphick Lucia slingbacks in black.
Kate debuted the slingbacks earlier this year, wearing them during a July visit to Evelina London Children’s Hospital in May (fun coincidence, she wore them with the white version of the green Suzannah dress).
The shoes combine black suede with a glossy patent pointed toe, an angular 75mm heel and a delicate pearl buckle at the slingback strap. They are made in Portugal with a leather upper and sole.
She clearly liked the Lucia design. Kate also owns the shoes in tan, which she first wore to a charity polo match in 2023 and brought back for the Wimbledon men’s final the following year. She owns other pieces from Camilla Elphick too, including the brand’s Alicia slingback flats and a pearl-embellished belt.
Sadly, the Lucia pumps are no longer available to buy new. Camilla Elphick ceased trading in 2025, so your best bet for tracking down a pair is the pre-loved market.
GET THE LOOK FOR LESS
Dress – Pretty Little Thing. Also available at COAST.
Necklace: Swarovski. Also available at TH Baker and COAST.
Earrings: Swarovski. Also available at TH Baker.
Shoes – top: Aldo
Shoes – middle: Sam Edelman
Shoes – bottom: Holland Cooper
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