Kate Middleton’s Trooping the Colour Outfit Had a Deeper Meaning — Here’s Why
The Princess of Wales’ ensemble was a subtle nod to her royal role as honorary Colonel of the Irish Guards.
Kate Middleton looked elegant in an aqua Catherine Walker coat dress, paired with a matching hat by Juliette Botterill, at Trooping the Colour on Saturday, June 14.
The soft blue shade matched the plume of the Irish Guards — the Household Division regiment the Princess supports in her role as honorary Colonel. It wasn’t the first time Kate, 43, has worn the color to show solidarity with the regiment.
Though regal in teal, there was more to Kate’s fashion choice than just style.
She attended King Charles III’s official birthday parade in London alongside Prince William and their three children: Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7. Her tailored Catherine Walker coat dress featured a crisp white collar and lapel, and was topped with a statement floral headpiece by Juliette Botterill.
Adding personal and royal significance, Kate accessorized with the Irish Guards Regiment Brooch and the Bahrain Pearl Drop earrings — a piece from the late Queen Elizabeth II’s collection — creating a look that felt both meaningful and familiar to royal watchers.
The color of Princess Kate’s outfit perfectly matched the teal plumes worn in the bearskin caps of the Irish Guards. As Colonel of the Irish Guards—one of the seven regiments of the Household Division that take part in the Trooping the Colour tradition—Kate’s choice to wear aqua was a deliberate and thoughtful show of support.
The official name of the Irish Guards’ plume color is St. Patrick’s blue, a nod to the shade traditionally associated with the mantle and sash of the Order of St. Patrick.
King Charles appointed Kate as Colonel of the Irish Guards in 2022, and she has since paid tribute to the regiment through her fashion choices. For her first St. Patrick’s Day Parade with the Guards in 2023 as their honorary colonel, the Princess of Wales wore another teal Catherine Walker coat dress—once again echoing the blue plumes.
During the military pageantry at Horse Guards Parade for Trooping the Colour on June 14, Princess Kate watched from the dais alongside King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Her regal teal ensemble also evoked memories of a similar look once worn by the late Princess Diana. In 1992, Diana wore a strikingly similar turquoise and white suit by Catherine Walker, paired with a Philip Somerville hat, during a visit to the Heliopolis War Cemetery in Cairo, Egypt.
Princess Kate is known for paying homage to her late mother-in-law through fashion and recently channeled Diana’s iconic style at a ship christening in Scotland.
One of her most treasured pieces of jewelry is also an heirloom from Princess Diana — her sapphire and diamond engagement ring, which Prince William used to propose to Kate in 2010.
Bethan Holt, Fashion News and Features Director at The Daily Telegraph, previously told People that Kate’s sartorial tributes to Diana are always “carefully coordinated.”
“I think we’ve seen many examples where the reference is very intentional, and Kate uses fashion to pay tribute to Diana in a very positive way,” Bethan Holt told People, adding that Prince William “has always been very conscious of his mother as a style icon.”
Holt continued, “I think that William and Kate, between them, may have decided that on certain occasions it’s a really lovely gesture for Kate to acknowledge Diana as a lasting fashion muse—doing so through her own wardrobe choices.”
At Trooping the Colour on Saturday, Princess Charlotte matched her mother in aqua, creating a visually cohesive and heartfelt mother-daughter moment.
