On Sunday June 12th, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge accompanied the Queen and other members of the Royal Family to The Patron’s Lunch:
The Patron’s Lunch was a giant street party and parade that took place on The Mall in St. James’ Park. According to the Guardian, the street has never hosted a street party before – this was the first in history!
The space hosted over 10,000 guests, including representatives from 600+ charities and organisations the Queen is involved with. A selection of the tickets were offered to members of the public too.
The Patron’s Lunch was the final event in a weekend of celebrations to mark the Queen’s 90th Birthday. (There was a Service of Thanksgiving on Friday and Trooping the Colour on Saturday.)
Guests enjoyed delicious food hampers prepared by Marks & Spencer. Jugs of Pimms were on offer too.
The M&S picnic food looks delicious, doesn’t it?
Thankfully, the guests’ official goodie bags contained ponchos, which came in useful as the day started out very damp.
The weather brightened up later in the day, just in time of members of the Royal Family to take part in a walkabout.
William and Kate met with guests from a number of charities, including The Royal Commonwealth Society, The Retail Trust and Tusk.
My friend and her daughter managed to get tickets to The Patron’s Lunch. They were kind enough to share the following photographs with us too:
They were lucky enough to get pretty close to Kate!
After the younger royals mingled with the public, the Queen and Prince Philip drove down The Mall waving at the gathered crowds.
The royals watched the parade from a royal box:
The Queen gave a short speech, during which she made a small joke. Here’s an excerpt from the Guardian’s report:
… she had been “delighted and moved by the many cards and wishes”. She joked that she may get birthday fatigue, saying : “How I will feel if people are still singing Happy Birthday in December remains to be seen.”
Prince William also gave a short speech:
Kate’s outfit:
Kate wore a cornflower blue, neon coral and pastel pink colour block dress by Roksanda:
Net-A-Porter stocked the piece exclusively, though their discount outlet (The Outnet) later sold the piece for a reduced price.
Here’s how Net-A-Porter describes the piece:
EXCLUSIVE AT NET-A-PORTER.COM. Roksanda’s signature color-block designs are eye-catching and supremely flattering. Made in Italy, this cornflower-blue wool-crepe dress has a neon-coral panel to frame the waist and a pastel-pink stripe to streamline your figure. The silk lining and back vent ensure a smooth, comfortable finish.
The dress is made from 100% wool and has a 100% silk lining. The zip fastens halfway with a slit up the back. However, Kate’s dress has a full-length zip (all the way down to the skirt’s hem – see in this photo here). It’s assumed Kate had the garment reworked to her liking by a local dressmaker.
As you can see in the following photo, Kate carried her L.K. Bennett Nina clutch bag:
The nude coloured box clutch bag is still available on the L.K. Bennett USA & Canada website (though at the time of hitting publish, there were only three bags left in stock). It costs $395 USD.
The bag is out of stock on L.K. Bennett’s UK & International website, but you can register for restock notifications.
Currently, the UK/Int’l website is running a sale on the Nina bag in different prints:
- Mini star print – reduced to £150
- Sugar crystal – reduced to £95
- Large star print – reduced to £95
The bag can also be purchased from Sarenza in three different prints too (also on sale) –
- Champagne lazer cut – £136
- Woven black & white – £95
- Silver lazer cut – £136
Kate’s shoes should feel familiar too. They’re the matching L.K. Bennett Fern pumps in “Trench” (nude) leather.
The shoes are available for £195 on L.K. Bennett’s UK/International website. Sadly, they’re out of stock in this particular colour on the USA/Canada website.
However, both L.K. Bennett websites stock the shoe in a wide range of colours/prints. Some styles are on sale too.
Kate finished her look off with her Mappin & Webb Empress pendant and earrings, which are made from white gold and diamonds:
Recommended reading:
Don’t miss Hello! Magazine’s article about The Paton’s Lunch, which features 10 memorable moments. It’s good read!