This year’s Trooping the Colour is a monumental one: the first after Queen Elizabeth II’s passing and her son King Charles’s appointment to the throne — and all eyes were on Kate Middleton‘s Trooping the Colour outfit. And, as expected, she opted for a show-stopping ensemble that will be remembered for years to come. She chose an Andrew Gn green suit with a Philip Treacy hat featuring a bow and a wide brim. She wore her hair in a regal updo and accessorized with Princess Diana’s famed sapphire-and-diamond earrings, a heartfelt tribute to her late mother-in-law.
Traditionally, Trooping the Colour has been the late queen’s birthday parade, and now it stands as such for King Charles, who has taken over the throne from his late mother. The event has served as the monarch’s official birthday celebration for more than 260 years, passed down through the generations, and this year’s event was the first one in celebration of King Charles.
With that shift in power, his son William has been made prince (and Middleton, in turn, princess). And, what’s more, Princess Kate Middleton has now taken on the role of the colonel of the Irish Guards from her husband. Her outfit is a nod to that appointment as the green color is a symbolic tribute to the guards.
Traditionally, her new role would have required her to attend Trooping the Colour in full military uniform and participate in the parade on horseback. While Charles and William did, indeed, arrive on the backs of the royal horses, Princess Kate arrived in a carriage, as has been traditional for her over the years. Queen Camilla, who was recently appointed colonel of the Grenadier Guards after a vacancy when Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal titles, rode the same carriage for the day’s events. The queen did, however, choose to wear uniform attire in lieu of a dress.
Middleton, who has been attending Trooping the Colour since her royal wedding in 2011, wears a variation on a pastel theme with each and every appearance. Through pregnancies and little children by her side, her look has always been classic, ranging from shift dresses to midline coats to floral prints.
Middleton chose the same diamond-and-sapphire-cluster drop earrings that she did for the Trooping the Colour event in 2022. As mentioned, the earrings are from the late Princess Diana’s collection, featuring two clusters of diamonds around a single cabochon sapphire: one as a stud on her lobe and the second hanging just below. There is a single diamond suspended between each cluster, and the top clusters feature eight diamonds surrounding it, while the bottoms feature nine. After last year’s Trooping the Colour, Middleton chose to wear the earrings again on a trip to Boston in November 2022.
As for Middleton’s brooch, she chose the gold shamrock. Though it is one that she has borrowed from the vaults in the past, it actually belongs to the Irish Guards, loaned out to those associated with the regiment. With the princess’s new role as the colonel of the Irish Guards, the brooch is hers to wear on occasions such as this. The brooch itself is a shamrock shape that comes away just enough from her chest, giving it life and shape. It’s made of solid gold and slightly textured in a chevron pattern on each of the three leaves. In the center sits a single prong-set emerald. The brooch has a long and deep history with the royal family, having been worn by the princess royal, the queen mother, and Princess Kate herself, all on multiple outings.
See more of Kate Middleton’s Trooping the Colour 2023 outfit ahead.
