Skip to Content

The Princess of Wales in Catherine Walker & Philip Treacy for Trooping the Colour

By Author admin

Posted on

30 Comments
The Princess of Wales in Catherine Walker & Philip Treacy for Trooping the Colour

The Princess of Wales wore a soft blue Catherine Walker design for the King’s Birthday Parade today. 

Here you see the Wales family as they arrived at Buckingham Palace.

The event is also known as Trooping the Colour. Below, the King and Prince William. The King, Colonel-in-Chief of the Household Division, wore the uniform of the Grenadier Guards, the Regiment Trooping the Colour this year. 

Here is a Kensington Palace video showing everyone at the Palace as they gathered, those riding in the carriages loaded into them, and those riding in the parade mounted their horses. 

Prince William wore the Ceremonial Guard Order of the Welsh Guards with his Order of the Garter Sash. 

After gathering at the Palace, it was time to load into carriages for the ride to Horse Guards Parade.

The Prince of Wales on Darby (left), and the Duke of Edinburgh on Sir John (right). The Duke, Colonel of the Scots Guards, wears the Full Ceremonial Guard Order of the Scots Guards and his Thistle Star and Sash.

The Princess Royal rode Noble and wore the Full Mounted Ceremonial uniform of the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) with her Garter Sash and Thistle Star. She is Colonel of the The Blues and Royals. Darby, Sir John, and Noble were all gifts from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to the late Queen Elizabeth II. 

The King and Queen in an Ascot Landau. 

The Princess of Wales and her three children in the second Ascot Landau. 

Prince George and Princess Charlotte. 

A wave to the crowd via Royal Central’s video shared online. 

The Duchess of Edinburgh and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. 

Another view of the Princess and Prince Louis. 

And a video of the Wales family as they exited their carriage at Horse Guards Parade, this one shared by The Sun’s Matt Wilkinson.

After arriving at Horse Guards Parade, the King, Queen, and Princess moved to the viewing stand.

A bit of history via this article in The Mirror. 

Back in the 17th century, battlefield communication was absolute chaos. Amid the smoke, noise, and confusion of war, a regiment’s custom flag – its “Colour” – was used as a visual rallying point. If a soldier got lost, they looked for the flag. To ensure every single man recognised his unit’s Colour, young officers would parade, or “troop,” the flag slowly down the ranks before a battle.

In 1748, King George II decided to combine this military tradition with his official birthday celebration. He was born in November, a month notorious for terrible British weather, so he simply moved his public birthday to June to ensure better conditions for a parade.

That quirk stuck, and today, Trooping the Colour serves as the official, public birthday celebration for the reigning British Sovereign, currently King Charles III.

Others watched the ceremony from the Major General’s Office.

Today’s parade included more than 1400 soldiers, 200 horses, and 400 military musicians.

A closer view of the King and the Princess. 

A news release notes additionally that “…the colours (flags) of the battalion were carried (or ‘trooped’) down the ranks to teach soldiers to recognise them. The honour of Trooping their Colour rotates through the five Regiments of Foot Guards, and this year it lies with 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards.”

In this shot, you can see Princess Charlotte has joined her brother at the window.

Then everyone headed back to Buckingham Palace. 

A view of the carriages going up the Mall toward the Palace.

A quick video of the Duchess of Edinburgh and Sir Tim, as shared by Royal Central. 

A view of the Princess having a laugh during the carriage ride.  

And a brief video shows the Royal Family members as they come out on the iconic Buckingham Palace balcony. 

The King, Queen, and the Wales family. 

The Duchess of Edinburgh, the Duke of Kent, and the Gloucesters. 

A Chinook helicopter approaches Buckingham Palace.

I love this shot by royal photographer extraordinaire Mark Stewart of the 90-year-old Duke managing his walking stick and his smartphone to capture the flyby.

In this view, you see the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh with Sir Tim and the Princess Royal. 

A look at the Red Arrows against the London skyline. 

Here you see Prince Louis leaning over to get a view of the incoming aircraft.  

And a few seconds later.

The Princess as she points something out to the children. 

Visit London shared a video of the Red Arrows zooming past the Palace. 

The Prince and Princess during the flypast. 

Christin shared the BBC’s video of the national anthem at the conclusion of this year’s Trooping the Colour ceremony. 

Apparently, Prince George tried to suppress a sneeze during much of the anthem, prompting a giggle from his mother.  A wave from the King and Queen after the anthem. 

Now for a look at what some of the royal women were wearing for today’s celebration. We begin with The Queen, who selected a red silk coatdress by Fiona Clare with a Philip Treacy beret. The coat dress takes inspiration from the Grenadier Guards’ uniform; the Queen is Colonel of the Regiment. I believe this was first worn for Trooping in 2023.

The Duchess of Edinburgh chose Roland Mouret’s Cady Midi Dress with a Jane Taylor hat.

The Duchess of Gloucester wore a navy polka-dot coat with a ruffled collar and cuffs, accessorized with a Jessica Turley hat. 

The Duchess wore this coat for Trooping in 2022. 

Kate Middleton Styled suggests Princess Charlotte wore a bespoke Alessandra Rich dress and shoes by Pretty Ballerinas. Royal British Fashion reports her hair bow is by Jane Taylor. 

The young Princess echoed her mother’s look today with a three-strand pearl bracelet. 

Prince George was in a navy blue suit with a light blue tie, and Prince Louis wore a double-breasted suit with a soft blue tie, the boys coordinating with their mother. Thank you to Ellie at Royal British Fashion for her ID information. 

Now for our look at what Kate wore, beginning with her Catherine Walker Lafayette Coatdress.

It is described this way on the Catherine Walker site: 

The silhouette is elongated and sculpted through the bodice, with sharp, structured shoulders and clean princess seams that contour the waist before falling into a graceful, fluid midi-length skirt.

A striking contrast trim frames the angular lapels and runs with architectural intent along the asymmetric front, accentuating the double-breasted fastening and fabric-covered buttons. The sleeves are sleek and refined, finished with subtle cuff detailing that mirrors the lapel edge.

Here is a closer look at some of the details, including the trim at the cuff, the peaked shoulder, and the self-covered buttons.

As pointed out by Write Royalty’s Patricia Treble and others, it is similar to a Catherine Walker coatdress worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1987. 

Here is another view of the late Princess in the garment. 
Embed from Getty Images 

Thoughts on the look come via Caroline Leaper, The Telegraph’s Deputy Fashion Director. 

This year, she chose a new ice-blue Catherine Walker & Co “Lafayette” coat dress with graphic pointed lapels, trimmed in white binding. It is nearly identical to a coat, made by the same designer, which the late Princess Diana wore in 1987 as she attended an Easter service in Windsor, holding the hand of a young Prince William, who was also dressed to match her.

This full-circle fashion moment shows the Princess is completely attuned to royal dressing traditions while still managing to gently modernise the look. She matched her coat to a saucer-brim hat from Philip Treacy, the British milliner, and her earrings were not from the family vault, but rather from Cassandra Goad, the contemporary British fine-jeweller – a £7,245 pair of pearl-encrusted flower studs, which she previously wore at the christening of Prince Louis.

As an event to mark the monarch’s official birthday, this particular spectacle is designed to be celebratory and uplifting. The Princess of Wales and her young family showed again on Saturday that they are committed to honouring the past, whilst modernising the look of the monarchy.

The Princess accessorized with a custom version of a new Philip Treacy hat, the OC 315 from the milliner’s spring/summer 2025 collection. It showcases an oversized saucer brim in soft blue with blue sculptural trim on the left side and an ivory dome.

She brought back her white nappa leather Gianvito 105 Pumps ($850). 

She also repeated her Cassandra Goad Cavolfiore Earrings ($10,240) in 18K yellow gold, with pearl clusters accented by diamonds, so named for their cauliflower-inspired design. “Cavolfiore” is Italian for cauliflower. 

The Princess wore her Irish Guards regimental brooch; she has been the Guards’ Colonel since 2022. And she wore the Nigel Milne triple-strand bracelet, a sentimental choice as it originally belonged to the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

I will leave you with one more photo of the Princess by Mark Stewart. 

Hopefully, I will be seeing you again on Monday, as that would mean the Princess attended the Order of the Garter events!

Pin It

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Maureen Brode

Saturday 13th of June 2026

I am a long time reader and particularly enjoy reading the views of individuals who comment often.

My husband and I are in London from Canada and yesterday were on the Mall to see the Royal family. I thought that Princess Catherine looked breathtakingly beautiful, the Wales children were well-behaved as usual and it was a treat to see Charlotte smile and wave to the crowds.

It was an impressive spectacle and the weather was perfect. As to the colour of her outfit, the blue was marvellous on the Princess.

Thanks again to everyone involved with this site.

Maureen

Gayle

Saturday 13th of June 2026

Love Catherine's blue Catherine Walker coatdress, beautifully tailored, fits her perfectly. The Phillip Tracy hat looks great, always love Catherine wearing an up do. Pearl earrings and bracelet are finishing touches, well done. Camilla's look- "costumey". Sophie looks very elegant. William always looks great in the Grenadier Guard uniform.

Topiary

Saturday 13th of June 2026

The Catherine Walker coat is perfection. I love the color combination and the white shoes.

Princess Charlotte‘s dress was beautiful also.

It is so wonderful that the family coordinates their color palette.

Ava

Saturday 13th of June 2026

The Princess is such an asset to the Royal Family for so many reasons, she is absolutely lovely! She would look beautiful in anything…Although, the 80’s motif-I cannot make sense of for a woman who is not that old. And sadly, when she wears clothing from this era, it seems to overtake her frame and the lines feel very harsh on her. The 80’s is an era gone by, and while I can appreciate that the Princess may not necessarily be ‘trendy’ in her dress, I would think that ‘classical’ would perhaps be a suitable target for a coming Queen. I can’t imagine how overwhelming it may be to have so many options to choose from, while also being in step with the expectation considering the type of event she is dressings for, as well as a plethora of other variables that we as commoners can not begin to comprehend-but the throwback to the 80’s era just seems really odd for a young woman her age. I am not sure if it a means of honouring her late Mother-in-law Diana, but Kate so beautifully pays homage to Diana with jewellery selections, and the tiara Diana so favoured as well. Anyhow, these are just a few thoughts-Kate is a beautiful Princess who will always be loved and embraced. It was wonderful to see the family out together celebrating. Sophie looked lovely today!

Karen

Saturday 13th of June 2026

I thought the POW's look today was lovely. Good color and good cut to the garment. We'll get to length in a second. Did not like the earrings at all--first thing I noticed and wondered why those. They seem a bit bulky for the rest of the elegant look. As to length: in my fashion classes back in the last century, I was taught/told that everyone has a perfect length for their day dresses, evening wear, and long pants. Once you figure it out, you shouldn't stray from it by more than an inch or so. It's very nice that the Princess follows the fashion in Europe and supports English designers, but I'd much rather see her be her own person and stick with a daytime length that's the perfect proportion for her.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.