Kate Middleton dressed head-to-toe in soft neutrals today as she joined Prince William at the wedding of Harriet Sperling and Peter Phillips in Gloucestershire.
The Princess of Wales chose a light taupe bouclé dress by Roland Mouret, which she paired with matching accessories for a seamless tonal look.
Despite sticking to a neutral palette, Kate’s ensemble felt far from boring. The creamy latte colour was unexpected and eye-catching without feeling overbearing. The dress itself was understated. Pairing it with tonal hues felt polished and cohesive.
The Princess arrived at All Saints Church in Kemble for the afternoon service alongside her husband, where the couple watched William’s cousin marry the NHS nurse.
The Prince and Princess drove themselves to the church and were greeted with huge cheers from the crowds who had gathered in the Cotswold village.
After the ceremony, the pair exited in the rain and drove to Gatcombe Park, Princess Anne’s nearby Gloucestershire estate, for the wedding breakfast and reception.
The bride looked beautiful in a high-necked ivory lace gown by Emilia Wickstead—a Kate favourite, of course.
The designer explained that she collaborated with Harriet to create a gown that felt “authentic, traditional and modern.”
The elegant gown – the result of months of planning and hundreds of hours of handwork – was constructed using a trio of different elements: a square-neck column underdress, a delicate lace overjacket fitted above the waist, and the pièce de résistance, a head-turning three-metre train.
British Vogue
Wickstead crafted the gown from Leavers Lace—invented in Nottingham, UK—and Italian ivory crepe.
If you’re wondering about Harriet’s tiara, it is not a royal jewel. It’s a loan from Pragnell, the same jeweller who designed her engagement ring and wedding earrings. The bride finished the look with ivory satin heels by Jimmy Choo.
This is Peter Phillips’ second marriage. The eldest grandson of the late Queen Elizabeth II was previously married to Autumn Kelly, with whom he shares two daughters, Savannah and Isla; their divorce was finalised in 2021.
Harriet Sperling, a paediatric nurse with the NHS, hails from Gloucestershire. She has a teenage daughter, Georgia, from a previous marriage.
The three teens were Harriet’s bridesmaids. They wore ivory high-neck dresses, also by Emilia Wickstead and floral crowns that echoed the bride’s white bouquet.
Let’s move to our deep dive of Kate’s outfit now.
A closer look at Kate’s ensemble:
The Princess chose a beautiful, soft, creamy taupe palette for today’s wedding.
By keeping everything tonal—dress, hat, shoes, and bag all in the same creamy family—she created an unfussy, cohesive, elegant look.
Textbook Kate—tonal dressing is one of her go-to styling techniques.
Which leads me to ask… does anybody else suspect the Princess still works with Natasha Archer? Perhaps occasionally, on an ad hoc/freelance basis?
Either way, there’s a skill to dressing as a guest at a wedding this high-profile, and I think Kate got every note right. Whether she put the outfit together herself or had help.
Today’s look was a hit on social media, with people calling it “sublime” and Kate’s “best look to date”.
However, some have questioned the colour choice, deeming the light shade inappropriate for a wedding as it’s too bridal. I guess it does read as champagne in certain lighting/photographs.
Personally, I think it’s fine. The light spring/summer palette suited the season perfectly. There’s no mistaking Kate for the bride. She hardly turned up at the church, holding a bouquet, wearing a veil.
The dress is an off-the-rack piece by Roland Mouret (the company, for the record, describes the dress as ‘dark cream’). She wears the Belted Bouclé Maxi Dress.
The design is formal and modest enough for a religious service and, of course, befitting of a future queen.
It’s full of couture-level detail: a fringe-trimmed collar framing a gentle V-neckline, a row of fabric-covered buttons down the bodice, lightly padded shoulders and short sleeves, a belted waist, and deep inverted pleats falling through a full midi skirt.
A closer look at the fabric. It was quite cool in the UK today, so I expect the thicker bouclé fabric worked in Kate’s favour.
The dress is now sold out at Harvey Nichols, where it retailed on sale for £375 (was £750).
It’s still available for full price on the designer’s own website in limited sizes.
Kate regularly turns to Roland Mouret for both occasionwear and work dressing—the Princess has several dresses, gowns and suits hanging in her closet by the label.
Roland Mouret founded the luxury fashion house in 1998. The brand achieved global fame with its iconic, figure-hugging “Galaxy” dress in 2005.
The French designer departed his namesake label last year; it’s now owned by Self-Portrait’s Han Chong, who purchased the business out of administration in 2021, and currently acts as creative director. I thought I’d add this note, as Kate also wears a lot of Self-Portrait, too.
The Princess topped her look with a new hat by Jane Taylor London. It’s the milliner’s Hera hat. (With thanks to royal style hunter Laura, Japanese Ginger, for the ID.)
The wide-brimmed hat is crafted from straw and trimmed with an Italian satin bow in brown.
Note: Kate wore the bow at the back, while it’s shown on the front on Jane Taylor’s website.
If you need a similar hat for Royal Ascot or a summer wedding, you can purchase directly from Jane Taylor, and it’ll arrive in 2-4 working days. RRP. £ 1,954.
Kate reached for a pair of soft blush pink gemstone earrings for today’s wedding.
They’re by Kiki McDonough. Each drop features a cushion-cut morganite stone at the top and a larger, elongated oval-cut morganite below.
Each stone is surrounded by a pavé-set diamond border and set in 18ct white gold.
Kate debuted the impressive gemstone earrings in May 2017 at her sister Pippa’s wedding in Berkshire.
The Princess has worn the earrings a handful of times since, including at the 2021 Earthshot Prize Awards.
Kiki McDonough first shared the earrings on Instagram in January 2017, describing them as “pretty and elegant”, and they came from her “Special Editions” collection, sold from her Symons Street shop in Chelsea. Sadly, they’re not available to buy online.
A quick search shows news articles and blog posts written in 2017 priced the earrings at £7,500.
Regular readers will know Kate’s a big fan of Kiki McDonough (or, somebody in her family loves to buy Kiki’s jewellery for the Princess!) She owns a whopping 20 pairs of earrings, three pairs of earring hoops and three necklaces by the designer. We haven’t seen Kate favour any other jeweller on this scale.
Kiki McDonough is a British fine jewellery designer known for working with and popularising vibrant and colourful gemstones, rather than traditional diamonds, rubies and sapphires.
The designer credits Princess Diana for catapulting her brand into the spotlight in the 1990s. This is the perfect segue into our next section: Kate’s bracelet.
The Princess wore a three-strand pearl bracelet to today’s wedding. It once belonged to her late mother-in-law. It’s the Triple-Strand Pearl Bracelet by Nigel Milne.
The vintage bracelet dates back to 1988. You can see an image of the piece in the designer’s catalogue, below:
In a blog post (now offline) on his website, Nigel Milne previously explained that proceeds from sales of the bracelet raised funds for BIRTHRIGHT, a research centre originally set up in the 1960s to stop women and babies dying in pregnancy and childbirth. The late Princess of Wales was Patron of the charity. Today, it’s known as ‘Wellbeing of Women’ and covers all areas of women’s reproductive health.
The heirloom piece features three rows of pearls separated with pearl and diamond spacers.
Let’s look at another piece of jewellery now. Kate’s necklace. Kate added extra sparkle to her outfit with a small, understated pendant.
At the moment, I cannot tell you anything specific about the piece. But I can tell you that I suspect it’s a Kiki McDonough design. It’s very similar to the Kiki’s Grace necklace in white topaz. Kate has owned the matching Grace earrings since at least 2011.
However, as you can see, the Grace pendant on Kiki McDonough’s website shows a chain accented with diamonds—Kate’s is plain. I do wonder if the necklace used to come with a plain chain, though. I’ll update if the brand confirms.
I can tell you more about Kate’s textured clutch. It’s by Forever New. It’s the Australian company’s ‘Lily’ clutch in ‘woven’.
It’s a straw-style box clutch with a metallic top closure.
Kate debuted the piece in 2022 at the Platinum Jubilee Service of Thanksgiving, and has carried it to two garden parties since.
Unfortunately, it is no longer available to buy.
Let’s finish with Kate’s shoes now, which remain a mystery at the time of writing (which is always half the fun).
Eagle-eyed fans are debating between a few possibilities. I personally think she’s wearing the L.K. Bennett “Fern” courts in ‘trench’, a sort of pinky beige. She wore these nonstop between 2016 and 2017.
The Rupert Sanderson Malory and Jimmy Choo’s Romy 100 are two other options in her closet.
Or, she could be wearing her go-to Gianvito Rossi ‘Gianvito 105’ shoe in a new colour, beige leather.
Another option, the LK Bennett Monroe pump in Latte:
I’ll update once I’ve managed to have a closer look, or if somebody else solves the mystery.
Leave a Reply