Kate Middleton and Prince William took part in the annual Memorial Day tradition.
The Prince and Princess of Wales, 41, joined King Charles, Queen Camilla and other royals at the Royal British Legion’s annual Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday. The event honoring fallen UK and Commonwealth soldiers is a staple on William and Kate’s calendar each year.
Following tradition, they wore dark outfits decorated with red poppy pins. The symbol, believed to be derived from John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields”, has been used since 1921 to commemorate members of the military who died in war.
Princess Kate also wore the late Queen Elizabeth’s three-strand diamond necklace and diamond and pearl earrings.
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Kate Middleton and Prince William arrive at the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in London on November 11, 2023.
Chris Jackson/Getty
This year’s Festival of Remembrance was also attended by Prince Edward and Sophie, Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh; Princess Anne and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence; The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent.
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Members of the Royal Family attend the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in London on November 11, 2023.
Chris Jackson/Getty
Last year at the Festival of Remembrance, Princess Kate wore jewelery that had previously belonged to her grandmother Queen Elizabeth, a poignant reminder just months after the monarch’s death. She wore Bahraini pearl earrings and a four-strand pearl necklace with a diamond piece in the center – the same pieces she chose to wear to Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral and mass.
The Princess of Wales previously wore the necklace as well as earrings for Prince Philip’s funeral in 2021. She was also recently seen wearing pearl earrings at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.
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Kate Middleton and Prince William at the 2022 Festival of Remembrance. CHRIS RADBURN/POOL/AFP via Getty
“Pearls are one of the few pieces of jewelery you can wear in mourning and are inextricably linked to Queen Elizabeth and her personal jewelery legacy,” Bethan Holt, author The Queen: 70 Years of Magnificent Style, he previously told PEOPLE. “It is a symbol of mourning for the monarch, but also for the grandmother or great-grandmother.”
The wearing of pearls in mourning is a tradition established by Queen Victoria after the death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861, after which she wore black until the day she died. Queen Victoria accessorized with colorless jewelry, often pearls, which she loved and considered more appropriately discreet and respectful than sapphires, rubies, or other colored gemstones.
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Members of the royal family – including Prince William and Princess Kate – will reunite tomorrow for the National Service of Remembrance, also known as Remembrance Sunday, at the Cenotaph war memorial in London.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education