The Princess of Wales wasn’t taking any risks yesterday as she attended the official state visit of the Emir of Qatar and his wife to the UK – her first since finishing chemotherapy for cancer.
Wearing a bespoke coat-dress by one of her all-time favourite designers Alexander McQueen, whom she has relied on for some of her life’s most important occasions (including, of course, her wedding and wedding reception dresses), she deployed the tactic known in royal circles as ‘diplomatic dressing’: the strategic use of clothes to show respect to the visiting nation.
She did this by wearing the exact colours of the Qatari flag – burgundy through her coat-dress, hat and boots, and white through her pearl jewellery.
Her beret-style hat, which she last wore in 2023 at a ceremony marking a year since the death of the Queen, was a bespoke design by London milliner Sahar Freemantle – fittingly, a scholar of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. The Princess looked to European fashion houses for her other accessories: her boots were by Italian designer Gianvito Rossi (costing approximately £1,650) and her bag by Chanel (around £3,762).
The Princess of Wales deployed the tactic known in royal circles as ‘diplomatic dressing’: the strategic use of clothes to show respect to the visiting nation
She did this by wearing the exact colours of the Qatari flag – burgundy through her coat-dress, hat and boots, and white through her pearl jewellery
The four-row Japanese pearl choker was a borrowed piece from King Charles’ personal collection and used to belong to the late Queen.
The pearls were gifted to Queen Elizabeth during her first state visit to Japan in 1975 and then constructed into a necklace by court jeweller Garrard.
Her drop pearl earrings, likewise, belonged to the late Queen – a present from the ruler of Bahrain in 1947.
Recycling, borrowing and a coat-dress by her favourite British designer? A classic Kate formula.