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Kate in Topshop & Ralph Lauren for Studio Tour, A Batmobile Baby Seat?

For today’s engagement at Warner Brothers Studios Leavesden Kate wore a Topshop dress

Prince William and Prince Harry were also part of the day’s events, this image comes via the BBC’s Sophie Sulehria.

Sophie Sulehrai, BBC

Sophie Sulehrai, BBC

Kate’s polka dot dress seemed in keeping with the majority of the day’s more lighthearted activities.

James Whatling / Splash News

James Whatling / Splash News

Once inside the studios the three were welcomed onto a Harry Potter set, all eight films were made here.

Warner Bros Studio Tour

Trying out props from some of those movies was clearly a high point. Warner Brothers has made a £100 million+ investment into Leavesden Studios, an immense facility housing a permanent production facility as well as the Studio Tour. Today was the official inauguration of the studios.

Sophie Sulehria/BBC Twitter

Sophie Sulehria/BBC Twitter

Prince William was acting in his role as the President of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), below a portion of his remarks:

“The journey to today began most obviously with the now legendary story of an aspiring author – J K Rowling – translating her phenomenal imagination onto paper in the form of the Harry Potter series.

New BAFTA scholarships were announced today, the Prince William scholarships will assist those doing graduate-level work in film studies.
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Below, the young royals on the Diagon Alley set from the Harry Potter Films.
Chris Jackson/WPA Rota/ PA Wire

Chris Jackson/WPA Rota/ PA Wire

There was plenty of the back and forth ribbing between William and Harry, here is one of William’s salvos as shared by Max Foster from CNN:

Max Foster, CNN

Max Foster, CNN

There were 500 guests on the Making of Harry Potter Tour from the charities for which William, Kate, and Harry serve as Patron.

Warner Brothers You Tube Video

Warner Brothers YouTube Video

The sets and costumes were obviously high points for everyone on the Tour, royals and guests alike.

Warner Brothers Studio Tours

Warner Brothers Studio Tours

All eight of the wildly successful films Harry Potter films were shot at Leavesden. Kate looked short in contrast to Rebeus Hagrid.

Warner Bros Studio Tour

Warner Bros Studio Tour

Here we see William and Harry giving Mr. Weasley’s flying Ford Anglia a try.

Warner Bros Studio Tour

Warner Bros Studio Tour

William can be seen trying out the Batmobile, Kate had a look at Batman’s costume. William also seemed to like Batman’s means of getting around.

Valentine Low/The Times Twitter

Valentine Low/The Times Twitter

Naturally, there were baby comments, Richard Palmer from the Express shared this one:

Richard Palmer, The Express

Richard Palmer, The Express

Harry Potter author JK Rowling joined the royals, it was the first time she had seen the studios. She was also in polka dots, and a pair of what could be the LK Bennett Sledge pumps Kate is so fond of. (Or is the platform too high for these to be the Sledge?) a pair of what savvy commenters have pointed out are the Jimmy Choo Cosmic, something yours truly should have recognized. 

The Tour looks like something almost anyone would enjoy, other films produced at Leavesden include Sherlock Holmes, Inception and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. As the trio was departing Kate posed for photos with a few youngsters. There was also more serious business on the day’s agenda, Harry, Kate & William chaired a meeting of their Charities Forum in the Great Hall set used for the Potter movies.

Below, the threesome as they departed. 

The Duchess was in a polka dot dress from Topshop.

James Whatling / Splash News

James Whatling / Splash News

Many think she wore the Polka Dot Skater dress in a tall size.

Topshop at Nordstrom

Topshop at Nordstrom

While others think it was a piece from Topshop’s maternity line, the brand’s Florence dress.

Topshop Maternity 'Florence' Dress

Topshop Maternity ‘Florence’ Dress

To be honest, I cannot tell which dress it is. The ongoing debate over which frock Kate is wearing is indicative of how similar they are. An observant WKW Facebook friend noted that the dots on Kate’s dress are spaced at regular intervals, the dots on the white version of Florence dress are not symmetrical, they overlap at points.

Topshop

Topshop

However… that is on the US site. The Florence dress on the UK site is shown with dots that are symmetrical, so I think it could be either at this point.

What To Expect

What To Expect

Many will recognize Kate’s black jacket.

mmmm

Many of us first noted Kate wearing the jacket as a ‘going away’ piece atop her blue Zara dress the day after the couple’s wedding, almost two years ago.

PA Wire

PA Wire

She has worn it on several occasions, including a Gary Barlow concert in December of 2011.

Splash News

Splash News

Kate accessorized with her black Episode angel pumps, the UFO black suede clutch and Annoushka pearl drop earrings.

Splash News

Splash News

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We have significant news we want to share, no doubt it will please many of you who saw our Tweets and/or Facebook mentions about what we mysteriously referred to as #BCF.

Drum roll……

EACH

Baby Cambridge Fundraiser

It stands for the Baby Cambridge Fundraiser, a joint effort from a coalition of royal bloggers raising money for EACH, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, one of Kate’s patronages. We’ll have more about this on Monday including a fabulous giveaway.  We hope readers who are on Facebook will join the Baby Cambridge Fundraiser page…..

Baby Cambridge Fundraiser Facebook Page

Baby Cambridge Fundraiser Facebook Page

And if you are on Twitter we hope you follow BCF on that site as well.

BCF (@Royal Fundraiser) Twitter Page

BCF (@Royal Fundraiser) Twitter Page

But more importantly, we hope you will consider making even a small donation, be it £1, $2, every little bit helps a very worthy cause.

Kate’s next engagement is Monday, she will spend part of her 2nd wedding anniversary visiting the Naomi House Children’s Hospice.

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LJD

Wednesday 1st of May 2013

Since a simple yet classy looking outfit. The Duchess looked lovely and it was quite appropriate for the event.

I would say the Duchess is wearing the maternity version of this dress. While it does "droop" in the back as one commentor mentioned so does the image of the maternity dress WKW posted. Also, the waistline is too high to be the regular women's version.

Annie

Wednesday 1st of May 2013

I love the polka dots on Kate!! :) I love every single dress Kate wears, but I really like her Alexander McQueen Sailor Dress!!!

Justine

Monday 29th of April 2013

I am pretty sure this is the maternity version of the dress, the regular version would be too short in the front considering her advanced pregnancy. As for the fact that we can't find it on the UK topshop website, it was probably available in store but was sold out at the point where we looked it up online or maybe Kate gets privileged shopping access to certain items that are not so easily found in the UK or she get's out of her way to buy it from the US website to make sure that no one else in the UK can have the same model as her.

BTW, I wanted to share with you that I just received my first pair of LK Bennett. I chose the Sabira in taupe. They have a 2 1/2 inch heel without a platform. I am already 5'8'', I work in commercial real estate, I also raise corporate sponsors for philanthropic events so it seemed more appropriate and sensitive for me to wear a shorter version of Kate's. As a patron, her function is a little more glamorous then mine is as a commercial broker. I would appreciate it if you tell me what you think of my choice of summer court shoes.

katefanatic

Monday 29th of April 2013

I think that black and white are always classic, and the Duchess works this outfit to perfection. The pairing of the jacket makes an otherwise casual dress just right for the occassion. I think the outfit was perfect for the event, and the trio seemed to have a great time.

Pamina

Sunday 28th of April 2013

If you look carefully at pix taken from the side, the back hemline droops. So I would guess non-maternity.

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