On June 13th, Kate joined other members of Royal Family at the annual Order of the Garter ceremony:
This is the fifth time Kate has attended the event. (She attended the ceremony in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2014. )
The traditional Garter Day ceremony takes place in Windsor each year. After a private investiture in the Throne Room at Windsor Castle, the Knights attend a lunch hosted by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Usually, the Knights form a procession and walk down to St. George’s Chapel where a short service takes place. The Knights are normally accompanied by a marching band, all in grand ceremonial dress. However, this year, everybody travelled to and from the chapel by car, due to the bad weather. It’s thought that this is the first time the Royals have driven to the chapel since 1971.
Victoria from The Crown Chronicles managed to snap the following picture of William and Kate being driven to the chapel today:
More about the Order of the Garter and its origins from the Royal.gov.uk website:
In medieval times, King Edward III was so inspired by tales of King Arthur and the chivalry of the Knights of the Round Table that he set up his own group of honourable knights, called the Order of the Garter. Nearly 700 years later, the Order is the oldest and most senior Order of Chivalry in Britain. The Knights, now both male and female, used to be limited to aristocracy, but today they are chosen from a variety of backgrounds, in recognition for their public service.
Kate’s outfit:
For this year’s Order of the Garter ceremony, Kate wore a red coat dress by Catherine Walker.
You may remember the ensemble from the 2011 Royal Tour? Kate first wore the coat dress during her final day in Canada.
The coat dress features slightly structured shoulders, pleats down the front and has matching red buttons. Kate chose to wear a matching red dress underneath the coat on both occasions.
You’ll notice that Kate is wearing a new pair of shoes today. A number of people tweeted suggesting they’re Gianvito Rossi pumps in red suede. Below, we show the back of the shoe at Harrods:
It’s a good guess. Kate appears to favour Gianvito Rossi pumps and owns two pairs of the 105 style already. Did she add a third to her collection? It looks likely. The shoes appear to be the same shape. There’s a little debate over the colour though.
Each store seems to give the shoe a different style name, while some pictures show the heels in lighter/darker shades of red (see above). We’re not sure whether this is due to irregularities in photography/naming conventions by the stores in question, or if a number of different variations are available for purchase. Take a look for yourself:
- Gianvito Rossi Ellipsis pumps in red suede – $749 at Saks
- Gianvito Rossi 105 pumps in claret suede – £450 / $697 at Net A Porter
- Gianvito Rossi 105 pumps in dark red – £445 / $670 at My Theresa
- Gianvito Rossi Bari Suede courts in red suede – £450 at Harrods
- Gianvito Rossi Bari suede courts in red suede – out of stock at Selfridges
Kate’s bag ought to feel familiar to regular readers. It’s a custom piece by Alexander McQueen. As you can see from the graphic below, Kate’s version of the clutch bag does not have the oversized bow on the front or the skull’s head clasp. It does have the same smaller bow on the back:
The Duchess first carried the bag in 2012 while onboard The Spirit of Chartwell boat, during the river pageant celebrating the Queen’s 60-year reign.
You might notice Kate is wearing the same hat again too. It’s a bespoke piece by Sylvia Fletcher for Lock & Co.
Kate added a lot of sparkle to her outfit today. She chose three familiar pieces. Her Mappin & Webb Empress pendant necklace:
Her diamond bracelet, understood to be a gift from Prince Charles (pictured here on a previous occasion) –
Finally, Kate wore her bespoke Robinson Pelham oak leaf earrings.
You may recall that Kate’s mother specially designed these earrings for her wedding day. They were reported to cost £15,000 at the time and were made from 18 karat white gold and diamonds.
Here’s how Robinson Pelham describes the earrings on their website:
These earrings are diamond set stylized oak leaves with a pearshaped diamond set drop and pave set diamond acorn suspended in the centre. Inspiration for the design came from the family’s coat of arms which includes acorns and oak leaves and the earrings were made to echo the [Halo] tiara.
A reminder of Kate wearing the wedding earrings on the big day itself:
Red is her color……just beautiful.