Kate Middleton is known for recycling her favorite pieces of clothing, but she just took her sense of sustainable fashion to a new level.
On Tuesday evening, the Princess of Wales joined Prince William, King Charles and Queen Camilla at Buckingham Palace for the annual diplomatic reception. She wore a Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot tiara and a pink Jenny Packham sequin dress — and there’s a reason the look looked familiar: she’s worn the combo before!
Princess Kate wore the same tiara, similarly down hair and dress in June for the royal banquet of Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa of Jordan. She even kept the earrings the same, with the Greville Chandelier earrings, jewels that the late Queen Elizabeth received as a wedding gift from her parents, King George VI. and of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, when she married Prince Philip in 1947. Royal Collection Trust.
While Princess Kate has worn the tiara on 15 previous occasions, Tuesday was the first time she repeated the tiara and dress combination.
Kate Middleton and Prince William at a diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace on December 5, 2023.
Jonathan Brady – Pool / Getty
Every Time Kate Middleton Wore a Tiara — Check Out the Photos!
The Princess of Wales’ light pink handbag was also an example of her sustainable style. She has had a Prada clutch in her collection since at least 2008 (three years before her royal wedding!) when she wore it to the wedding of Prince William’s cousin Peter Phillips.
While it was the first time Princess Kate has repeated the tiara and dress combo, she has now worn the Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara a total of 11 times, making it by far her most sporting royal headpiece.
The accessory was also a favorite of her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana. According to Court Jewellers, the stunning sparkler is over a century old and was originally commissioned by Queen Mary from jewelers Garrard in 1913 or 1914. It is a replica of the tiara owned by Maria’s grandmother, Princess Augusta of Hesse, Duchess of Cambridge.
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Prince William and Kate Middleton at a diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace on December 5, 2023.
Chris Jackson/Getty
Kate has worn three other tiaras during her royal life: the Cartier Halo tiara (just once on her wedding day), the Lotus Flower tiara (for the last time at a diplomatic corps reception in 2022) and the most recent addition — the Strathmore Rose tiara.
The royal’s last tiara was worn just two weeks ago when she helped host Republic of Korea President Yoon Suk Yeo and First Lady Kim Keon Hee at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace. And her choice of headdress was a complete surprise as the Strathmore Rose tiara had not been worn in public since the 1930s.
The floral headdress was part of the Queen Mother’s collection. According to The Court Jeweller, the accessory’s name comes from the Queen Mother’s father, who was the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and was a wedding gift when she married Prince Albert (the future King George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth). After the Queen Mother, Princess Kate is only the second person to wear the Strathmore Rose tiara in public.
“Kate has always made it clear that she would like to emulate the royal role of the Queen Mother, and wearing her jewels is an important symbol of that continuity,” Lauren Kiehna, founder of The Court Jewelers, tells PEOPLE. “It’s fitting that Kate – possibly with the help of King Charles – decided to wear the tiara exactly one hundred years after the Queen Mother originally received it. It’s an antique that hasn’t been fashionable for decades, but many jewels once considered fussy or out of style are now accepted again.”
Kate Middleton’s Royal Style: Every Outfit The Princess of Wales Wore in 2023…Until Now
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Prince William and Kate Middleton at a state banquet on November 21, 2023.
YUI MOK/POOL/AFP via Getty
“The tiara comes with two bezels, allowing it to be worn across the forehead or on top of the head. The Queen Mother used it both ways, and Kate chose a more traditional setting for the banquet,” adds Kiehna.
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King Charles was famously close to his grandmother, who died in 2002, and Princess Kate returning the tiara to the public is likely a nod to her relationship with the monarch. The king recently referred to Kate as “my beloved daughter-in-law”.
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Source: HIS Education