2nd June 2022—Kate Middleton chose patriotic white with accents of blue for today’s Trooping the Colour parade—the traditional military parade that marks The Queen’s official birthday.
Kate might have worn both colours as a tribute to the Monarch—they both feature in the Union Jack flag. They’re also a festive choice for The Platinum Jubilee Weekend celebrations as the country comes together to mark the Queen’s 70-year reign (as usual, there’s a full rundown of Kate’s outfit further down the page ⬇️).
Typically, Trooping the Colour takes place on the second Saturday of June. This year, the celebrations were rescheduled to the first day of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Weekend: the special four-day holiday marking the 70th Anniversary of The Queen’s Coronation.
On the 6th of February this year, the Queen became the first British Monarch to celebrate 70 years on the throne—an historic milestone!
The Queen’s actual birthday is in April, Trooping is her second—official—birthday. This convention dates back to the 1700s. King George II’s birthday fell in November when the autumn weather is known to be pretty dismal here in the UK. The King wanted a large-scale public celebration so decided to host a parade in the summer instead. This tradition has continued for over 270 years—it is the textbook definition of pomp and pageantry!
The military parade sees over 1400 soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians gather in a great display of military precision, horsemanship and fanfare. Below, over 14,000 spectators watch on from Horse Guards Parade and the Queen Victoria Memorial .
Crowds wave flags and cheer along the parade route before pouring onto The Mall.
Typically, the procession begins at Horse Guards Parade before travelling down The Mall to Buckingham Palace. The Queen takes the salute at Horse Guards and then travels with the parade to the palace. This year, the proceedings were slightly different, presumably to accommodate HM’s comfort. She observed the parade and took the salute from the Buckingham Palace balcony instead.
This year’s Trooping is the first full parade to take place since 2019, signalling a return to some normalcy after two years of pandemic restrictions. The parade had to be dramatically scaled back in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. Both years, the Queen attended a very small socially distanced ceremony at Windsor (pictured below).
The Queen’s extended family did not attend Trooping the Colour during those two years. Kate made her return this year, riding in a carriage with the Duchess of Cornwall as usual. You might notice somebody else sitting opposite? Yes, that’s Princess Charlotte! The three Cambridge children joined their mother and step-grandmother in the carriage this year.
Excitement amongst royal fans heightened as they spotted George, Charlotte and Louis making their procession debut!
We’d been hoping to see the three youngsters in this year’s parade, seeing as it’s such a special occasion.
During the procession, Charlotte decided she’d had enough of waving and told her younger brother to stop. You can see the funny moment in the video below:
Of course, all three Cambridge children have made appearances at Trooping in previous years. They’ve all watched the traditional RAF flyplast from the Buckingham Palace balcony (below: the Cambridges in 2019).
This year, Louis didn’t seem to be a fan of the noise—
The youngster pulled a variety of faces as he waited for the Red Arrows to fly over Buckingham Palace.
It was a colourful spectacle!
The pilots flew the planes into a ’70’ formation—marking the Queen’s 70-year reign.
The Palace released a statement ahead of Trooping the Colour explaining that only working royals and their children would join the Queen on the balcony during the flypast this year.
The Cambridges joined the Queen, the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their children Lady Louise and Viscount Severn, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, The Duke of Kent, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Alexandra.
Everybody looks so serious here, except for the Queen. I suspect the Guard Band was playing the National Anthem at the time.
Watch the parade in full below:
This was Kate’s tenth Trooping parade. (She did not attend the two previous years due to the pandemic, as mentioned above). Her previous nine appearances are pictured below:
If you’d like a refresher on Kate’s past looks, click here.
Let’s take a closer look at Kate’s outfit from this year’s parade now:
Kate Middleton’s Outfit at Trooping the Colour 2022:
This year, Kate chose a white coat dress for the Trooping the Colour parade. The lightweight piece looked ideal for the pleasant British weather.
The garment features a buttoned waist, long sleeves finished with four buttons, a peak lapel collar neckline, a welt side pocket and a pleated knee-length skirt.
Unfortunately, the designer is not confirmed. UPDATE: Richard Palmer, Royal Correspondent for the Daily Express has since confirmed the coat is by Alexander Mcqueen.
Kate first wore the coat in 2021, for two receptions at the Eden Project (one to receive G7 Leaders and the other to thank volunteers for arranging The Big Lunch, part of this weekend’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, incidentally).
This listing on the 1st Dibs website (below) from Alexander Mcqueen’s SS15 collection is similar to that worn by the Duchess.
The coats do share a lot of similarities—the shape, the pronounced shoulders, the welt pocket on the breast. However, there are some differences too. Namely, the seaming, the point on the lapel, the style of the cuffs, the buttons on the waist etc. Here’s my attempt at a graphic highlighting the differences:
Over the last 11 years, Kate has worn a myriad of bespoke pieces from Alexander McQueen. They’re Kate’s go-to for Trooping the Colour. The Duchess has worn McQueen ensembles to six out of the nine previous parades she attended.
Let’s take a look at Kate’s blue and white hat now. It is by Philip Treacy, style number OC 915 from the SS22 collection (thanks to Bojana for finding this in record time today).
The hat is crafted from blue and white straw and features a long white embellishment on the front. There’s no RRP on Treacy’s website, but you can send an enquiry should you need a hat for a similar occasion.
Kate paid tribute to her late mother-in-law Diana by wearing her double sapphire drop earrings.
Diana wore the earrings on many occasions, including at the Met Gala in 1996. They were said to be one of her favourite pairs.
Kate has never worn the sapphire earrings in public before. Their debut clears up a longstanding rumour. It was speculated that Kate had remodelled the iconic earrings into the pair you see below.
It was assumed she had remodelled the earrings to her taste, to match her famous engagement ring. That’s obviously not the case.
There were so many silly articles about the earrings published each time the Duchess wore the single sapphire drops—and she’s worn them pretty frequently over the last decade. I saw one headline saying there was “shock in the palace” because Kate had the earrings remodelled. Clearly nonsense.
Kate paired the earrings with a sapphire necklace we’ve seen before. The stone hangs from a gold chain and is surrounded by a cluster of diamonds.
I believe Kate has worn the necklace on three occasions to date (once in 2020 to meet President Zelenskyy and his wife and twice in 2022: to the Commonwealth Day service in March (pictured below) and the visit to Belize in the same month).
Nothing further is known about the piece: I expect it was a wedding gift along with the single drop earrings mentioned above.
Finally, Kate carried her blue Strathberry Multrees Wallet.
The blue leather clutch bag is embossed with a croc design and finished with Strathberry’s iconic hardware—a gold bar.
You can buy the Multrees Wallet from Strathberry directly (£275). Or find it at Saks Fifth Avenue ($395).
Strathberry Multrees Chain Wallet in Embossed Croc Blue
EXACT MATCH! The Strathberry Multrees bag is a royal favourite—and it’s easy to see why. It’s elegant, understated and surprisingly spacious. You can wear the piece crossbody (it comes with a removable chain) or clutch it like Kate.
Thanks! Carly, this is very complete coverage of what Kate was wearing.
My guess is the white coat is McQueen (bespoke). I don’t know very much about jewelry, but everything is very similar to the sapphires and diamonds worn by Diana. I wonder if Kate had them altered slightly to meet her needs and taste. Anyway, I loved the jewelry.
Kate’s hair was perfection. I am a fan of this style of coat for this kind of royal occasion. The crisp head-to-toe look, has a regal appearance and photographs well. In twenty years, Kate can look back on the photos and she will look like the classic beauty she is in the BRF.
It was a treat seeing the three darling Cambridge children. They were delightful in the carriage procession and on the balcony.
Wow! Kate rules for sure. What excellent choices ..so chic and beautiful.