The Prince and Princess of Wales view tributes to the Queen in Sandringham

Yesterday afternoon, the Princess and Princess of Wales visited Sandringham House to view the carpet of floral tributes left to the late Queen (15th September 2022).

Thousands of people have visited the Norfolk estate to pay their respects, with tributes having piled up by the Norwich Gates to Sandringham House since news of the Queen’s death was announced last Thursday.

The Telegraph

This is the second time the couple have viewed floral tributes in the seven days since Her Majesty passed. On Saturday, William and Kate visited Windsor Castle with Harry and Meghan. 

The two brothers and their wives are currently estranged; it was nice to see them put aside their differences for one hour to conduct the engagement. The four viewed the sea of flowers, cards and other tributes laid outside the gates before chatting and shaking hands with the waiting crowd.

William and Kate conducted a walkabout in Sandringham today, too.

The photo above shows the Princess walking with a schoolgirl to lay a bunch of flowers and a Corgi toy with the other tributes at the gate. Kate selected the eight-year-old—also named Elizabeth—from the crowd.

The eight-year-old sobbed and had tears in her eyes as she recalled the moment: ‘I went with her to put the flowers and the corgi down. She said, “Where do you think we should lay the flowers?” and I said “We should put them there”.’ 

Elizabeth’s headteacher, Gregory Hill from Howard Junior School in King’s Lynn, added: ‘Elizabeth was overwhelmed, she cried with joy at being chosen. It’s just a wonderful, amazing opportunity.’

The Daily Mail

The couple spoke with lots of locals and expressed their gratitude to well-wishers. 

The pair spent about 45 meeting members of the public who’d gathered to pay their respects.

Sandringham House is a royal residence on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, eastern England.  Traditionally, the Queen would stay on the estate from December until February, when she’d privately mark her father’s death and accession to the throne. 

William and Kate weren’t the only royals viewing floral tributes yesterday. Elsewhere, Edward and Sophie (Earl and Countess of Wessex) visited Manchester, England. Princess Anne (The Princess Royal) looked at the flowers left in memory of the Queen during a visit to Glasgow, Scotland this afternoon.

At present, Her Majesty is lying in state at Westminster Hall in London until her funeral on Monday (19th). William and Kate took part in a procession and brief service yesterday afternoon.

Throughout the mourning period, I’m keeping Kate’s outfit details to a minimum—not giving my usual full rundowns. The Princess wore a black coat over what I think is a black dress. Royal Fashion Police say Catherine Walker confirmed they designed the coat.

The dress appears to have a rib knit top stitched onto a pleated skirt.  It appears to be a custom version of this Alexander McQueen dress (Found by UFO NO MORE).

Kate paired the dress with one of her two mystery cross necklaces and carried her black Grace Han Love Letter Handbag. I suspect she’s also wearing her black suede Gianvito Rossi 105 pumps.

Finally, Kate finished her outfit with a pair of pearl and diamond earrings.  She’s worn them to a handful of engagements in the past, including during visits to The Netherlands and Canada in 2016.  Back in 2016, Kensington Palace told journalists the earrings were on loan from the Queen.

The Court Jeweller refers to these as ‘The Silver Jubilee Pearl Earrings’.

The Queen most famously wore this pair of diamond and pearl drop earrings during her Silver Jubilee festivities in 1977, and she’s since loaned them to both the Countess of Wessex and the Duchess of Cambridge. 

The Court Jeweller

Kate’s worn a lot of pearl jewellery since the Queen’s passing last Thursday.  Royals often wear the white gemstones when in mourning. It’s a tradition that can be traced back to Queen Victoria.