The Duchess wore green from head to toe at today’s St. Patrick’s Day parade with the Irish Guards.
Kate took part in the annual ceremony of handing out shamrocks to members of the Guards, she was in a new green coat from Hobbs.
The Duchess presents the officers and warrant officers with shamrocks who then distribute them.
One member of the regiment receives special treatment: Domhnall (pronounced Donal), the Regimental Mascot; he is seen with his handler, Drummer David Steed.
This is Domhnall’s second year taking part in the ceremonies, below left you see him getting ready for his duties today, and then with his handler.
Kate is in her third year of ceremonies with the Guards on St. Patrick’s Day. Prince William is Royal Colonel of the regiment; more from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge website:
In February 2011, The Queen gave her formal approval to the appointment of The Duke as Royal Colonel of the Irish Guards. It is The Duke’s first honorary appointment in the Army, and His Royal Highness has become the Irish Guards’ first Royal Colonel. The Queen is Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment.
Kate was given a nosegay when she and William arrived at the Barracks.
Shortly after arriving the Duke and Duchess stepped to the reviewing stand to watch the 300 Battalion members on parade.
More on today’s events from Rebecca English’s story in the Daily Mail.
The 32-year-old Royal stepped forward to present the shamrock to officers and warrant officers, who in turn issued it along the ranks.
This follows a century-old tradition inaugurated by Queen Alexandra, the wife of the then King, Edward VIII in 1901.
Also joining the Irish Guards on parade this year was a Company of Reserve Soldiers from the London Regiment, with whom they are paired under the new Army2020 restructuring process.
The Duke and Duchess posed for the annual photo, this image was shared on Twitter by the British Army.
Kate’s green coat is by British retailer Hobbs.
This is the ‘Persephone,’ made of a rayon/wool blend. The official color name is ‘pine,’ the garment has all of the classic trench elements: epaulets, storm flaps, and double-breasted styling. Kate elected not to use the self-belt that came with the coat, instead wearing a textured leather belt that looked about 1″ wide. The coat was originally priced at £279 ($490), it is now on sale for £195 ($345), still available in some sizes on the Hobbs UK site. The size selection is better on the US site, with most still available as of this writing.
Hobbs offered other items in the Persephone ‘multi-pine’ colorway: the dress and blouse appear to be sold out, a coat remains available as of midday. Those who remember their Greek mythology will recall that Persephone is the goddess of the underworld, daughter of Zeus and Demeter. (Full disclosure: I had to look up Demeter.)
Kate accessorized with her green Gina Foster hat, most recently seen on Christmas Day.
Kate’s jewelry today included the Cartier shamrock brooch first worn by Queen Alexandra in 1901 when she visited the Guards. The Queen Mother then took up the tradition of wearing it on St. Patrick’s Day, Princess Anne wore it for St. Patrick’s Day ceremonies with the Guards after the Queen Mother’s Death and now Kate wears it for the same event. The Duchess also sported her Kiki McDonough cushion cut green amethyst earrings and Tissot watch.
The shoe is the Valerie model (£400, roughly $650) Kate is fond of, she has worn the style in a rich chocolate brown as well as carbon gray. The bag style is Emmy’s Natasha style, (£290, about $480).
UPDATED 3.20.2014 I have heard back from Emmy Shoes. As many readers believed, Kate was wearing the carbon grey shoes and carrying the carbon gray clutch, not new items in a deep green as many of us thought. Both the shoes and the clutch have been seen previously, the Duchess used the carbon grey accessories when in her Matthew Williamson dress for the Tusk Trust.
Kate is wearing a belt that I do not recognize, although several people believe it is one they have seen previously. (In the interest of getting the post published I will check on that element of the ensemble later and update as appropriate.) Below, we see Kate in 2012, 2013 (when she was expecting Prince George) and then today.
The Duke and Duchess then visited the Guardsmens’ cookhouse, having lunch in the Officers’ Mess. It’s mere speculation, but my sense is this is one of Kate and William’s favorite engagements.
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We have multiple updates on Kate items that have been re-issued and/or restocked.
The first items are shoes worn with some frequency by the Duchess. Two pair of Stuart Weitzman shoes are back in stock at Zappos: Kate’s Minx in the ‘laniard’ colorway is available in all sizes ($395), and the Corkswoon in ‘nice blue suede is also available in all sizes ($385).
The Corkswoon is also available at the Stuart Weitzman site; the size selection is not as broad and the shoe is $13 more than the price at Zappos.
Another favored shoe style, the black Pied a Terre ‘Imperia’ is back in stock at Dune London. The wedge/espadrille is also available in navy and red, I did not see the off-white being offered. The Imperia is priced at $140 (£85).
Our thanks to WKW Facebook friends Elizabeth and Dabney for sharing news about the Imperia.
Another item now available for purchase online, the Roland Mouret gown Kate has worn on two occasions; it is offered at Net-a-Porter.
The Duchess wore the gown in December of last year to the Nelson Mandela film premiere and in May 2012 for a dinner at Claridge’s with William. (NOTE: The gown the designer’s ‘Lombard’ style, however it is called the ‘Ella’ on the Net-a-Porter site, I am not entirely clear why that is the case.) The wool crepe gown is priced at $4610.
Also today, another ID on an older item, the clutch Kate carried to the wedding of Lady Rose Windsor and George Gilman in 2008.
The bag is by John Lewis.
Our thanks to Ashley Marie for the ID on this item.
One final note: we are making minor changes to the site so we are as prepared as possible for the increase in traffic we will have during the April tour. Unfortunately that is creating problems for some of you, and I want to apologize. If you have any difficulty getting the blog to load, please try refreshing the URL a few times; this has worked for us. I am *so* sorry for the hassle factor, we expect to have the issue corrected within the next day or two.
LINKAGE:
- learn more about the Irish Guards by visiting the regiment’s British Army page here, the Band of the Irish Guards Army page is here, its Facebook page may be seen here
- you can ‘meet’ Domhnall on his Facebook page here
- Richard Palmer’s story in the Daily Express is here, the Daily Mail’s story may be seen here and Amber Graafland’s story in The Mirror is here
- ITV’s video story is here, Sky TVs photo gallery and video coverage is here,
Lillybeth
Sunday 30th of March 2014
I would love to know which dress she wore underneath :-)
Penelope
Friday 28th of March 2014
I got my Hobbs coat in size UK8 from ebay (my first ever purchase from the duchess outfits) which arrived yesterday and even though I paid full price I'm very pleased with it. I found a seller which accepted returns in case I didn't like it, by there was no need. It's a lovely classic coat in dark green, not as bright as in the photos of the duchess which makes sense why the carbon emmy shoes looked greenish as also the coat photographed brighter. The shade is more like the one on the model in the hobbs website and I found the colour to be very versatile, I already thought of many shades from charcoal, to bright green and borwn dresses in my closet that the coat will compliment very well.
I also think that the duchess had the coat shorted a little bit. Having bought it in the size she has I can see that the length is definitely longer competed to her coat. I will probably also have it shorted a little bit when I have a chance as i think it looks better this way.
Susan, I know there is no id on the belt, but do you think its green or dark grey?
Do you know if anyone has suggested a good alternative of the belt on line?
For whoever got the coat it's nice to have the belt to change the look the coat into sth more dressy.
admin
Friday 28th of March 2014
Congratulations on snagging one of the coats! To my eye the belt was a very dark green. But I also thought the shoes were dark green; I could easily be wrong here as well.
Lillybeth
Wednesday 26th of March 2014
Got the last Persephone Coat from the Hobbs Website in Size 10 - such a stunning coat - very very happy with it! The only think I want to say it that the Duchess cut the length a little bit - and so do I - looks better than the original length of the Coat
Sunny greetings from Austria ;-)
admin
Wednesday 26th of March 2014
What great news you were able to find a Persephone in your size! Thank you for the tip on length, I know that will be helpful for those still interested in the coat, perhaps looking on eBay or elsewhere. :)
Lynn from CA
Saturday 22nd of March 2014
Hello ladies,
I thought Kate looked great -- and am surprised as well that the shoes and the clutch are carbon grey....again, the greenest grey I have seen as well.
I'd like to pipe in on the Corkswoon wedges -- I was FINALLY able to obtain these shoes this spring and have a tip.
My suggestion for you is you purchase these shoes from Stuart Weitzman directly. The additional $14 is worth it -- the Zappo's version does not come with the grommet on the back, despite the pictures and the material is very stiff. I actually purchased from both because I wasn't sure about the size. While waiting for the Zappo's pair, I received the SW online version and thought the size was good, but I had horrible, dare I say it, shoe farts! I was heart-broken. Luckily for me, I have a SW store within a 30 min drive and I went with my shoes there. I was assured that the size was correct and they worked with me to add extra padding that eliminated the shoe farts for free. Can't get that from Zappos.
Needless to say, I returned the Zappos Corkswoons and am very happy with the SW version - with the grommets!
It wasn't all bad for Zappos however, last year, I was able to purchase the Minx sandals via Zappos and these were perfect.
For the record, Desserts and Shoes -- gotta have them both! I have a confession -- I also have the Pied-A-Terre wedges in black (dying for them to come back in Natural), plus the Aquatalia booties, the Sebago boat shoes, and the LK Bennett wedges. I know, I'm sick. I really do need help at this point. I only thank God that I am not thin because then I would be buying her clothes too!
Lindsay
Sunday 23rd of March 2014
I love that you have all of her shoes. So do I! Except I have the natural Pied-A-Terre wedges and I want the black! I also have the LK Bennett Sybila pumps... the Sledge was just to high for me to walk in and the Sybila is PERFECT.
ElizaMo
Friday 21st of March 2014
I feel completely mystified by the shoes update -- that's the greenest looking carbon grey I've ever seen. So, am I right in assuming that possibly the most photographed woman on the planet at the moment hasn't had a single new pair of smart pumps in the past -- what? -- five years?
Wonder how many WKWers could say the same...
The Way We Were
Monday 24th of March 2014
This reminds me of one of her Reiss coats...it looked green in some pictures and totally gray on Reiss website. I think our color queen Lili once pointed that out as well? I can't remember extactly..Anyway, I love Kate's shoe collection and wish I were as consistent as she is when it comes to pick out classic pieces that last...I am always drawn to more novelty design and colorful choices, shoes or clothes.
AshleyOlivia
Friday 21st of March 2014
Mystified is just the right word, ElizaMo. Even armed with the new information, I still find those shoes and clutch appear green on my monitor. Which has me wondering if they have magical chameleon-like qualities.
The Duchess truly does have a concise shoe collection. Certainly if you stick to high-quality pairs in neutral tones like she does you really don't need that many. However, in my own experience, need and want are two very different verbs, and my shoe collection definitely betrays how often I give into shoe cravings. Perhaps the Duchess just isn't a shoe girl? Of course, I feel a bit like Jess in New Girl when she discovers Nick's girlfriend "isn't a dessert person." Who isn't a dessert person?! Who isn't a shoe person?!
Liesa
Friday 21st of March 2014
No, you are not.