It’s A New Coat from Catherine Walker for St. Patrick’s Day with the Irish Guards

Kate wore a new Catherine Walker coat for the annual St. Patrick’s Day event with the Irish Guards.

The Duke and Duchess were guests of honor at today’s festivities. The couple arrived early at Mons Barracks, where the Guards are based and spent some time in the Mess Hall before coming back outside for the public events.

Kate and William always appear to enjoy this event.

Before she could present shamrocks to others the Duchess needed to have her own pinned on her new coat.

The Guards are a British Army regiment, part of the Foot Guards. They were founded by Queen Victoria in 1900 “in recognition of the many courageous acts of Irish soldiers” during the Second Boer War. Below, Kate being presented with a posy.

Below you can see William affixing shamrocks to his cap.

Kensington Palace explained on Twitter the shamrocks are tucked behind the star on a cap. From Gordon Rayner’s story in The Daily Telegraph:

Ever since their marriage the couple have upheld the 114-year-old royal tradition of presenting shamrocks to the officers and guardsmen of the regiment at their St Patrick’s Day Parade.

The Duchess presented baskets of shamrocks to the battalion’s warrant officers who, in turn, issued the sprigs out along the ranks.

The Daily Mail notes this year’s parade wasn’t quite as big as in recent years:

The parade this year was much smaller than in past years as the battalion currently has troops deployed around the world, although they were not forgotten – special packages of the fresh plant were flown out to those abroad, including to the Falkland Islands and Oman.

We always like to show a picture or two of the Guards’ official mascot, Domhnall, the Irish Wolfhound.

Domhnall is based at Mons Barracks, along with his handler, drummer David Steed. The majestic animal’s name means ‘World Leader’ in Gaelic.

From the Daily Mirror’s story:

The three-year-old dog, which weighs 11-and-a-half stone, was also treated to a sip of Guinness after the ceremony.

(Unfortunately Domhnall’s shamrocks took a tumble, there is a little bit of that shown in ITV’s video about the day’s engagement; we share a link to that below in our ‘Linkage’ section.)

After the shamrocks are given out it is time for the group photo.

A closer look.

Kate was in a bespoke piece by heritage designer Catherine Walker.

Catherine Walker tells us the color is chestnut brown, and the fabric is a double wool crepe. A closer look at the modified portrait collar.

The coat features princess seaming, no pockets that I could see, and box pleats both front and back. The tailoring on this piece was impeccable, as one would expect with a Catherine Walker garment. Kate accessorized with her Emmy Shoes ‘Valerie’ pump in chocolate brown.

She wore a hat we’ve seen previously, including at this particular event. It is the ‘Betty Boop’ by Lock and Company.

It looked like Kate carried her Emmy Shoes ‘Natsha’ clutch in brown suede.

I believe Kate was wearing her brown ‘Imogen’ gloves by Cornelia James. Below, the gloves in ‘parchment,’ a better way to show off the details, especially the bow.

The Duchess wore the gold shamrock that is traditionally seen at the ceremony, previously it has been worn by the Queen Mother and Princess Anne. Technically the brooch is owned by the regiment and then loaned to whoever is wearing it. You can just about see the pin in this photograph.

She also wore her Kiki McDonough Citrine drop earrings.

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Also today, congratulations to our StyleRocks contest winner, Stephanie.  She was entry number #349 and that’s the number chosen at random.When suggesting a gift from the Russian Rings collection that she thought William might select for Kate, she went with the Willow ring in multicolored gold. 

Stephanie is no newcomer to the Kate club, she lives in Santa Barbara and attended the polo match there when Kate and William visited during the 2011 Tour. Our thanks to Pascale at StyleRocks for sponsoring such a wonderful contest, and also for the very generous $500 donation she will be making to EACH.

We will see you tomorrow for Kate’ engagement at the Brookhill Children’s Centre in London.

LINKAGE:

• For more information, there is a non-official Irish Guards website that has loads of info and photos click here to visit that site; the official MOD page for the Guards is located here
• Visit the Band of the Irish Guards Facebook page here, its official MOD page is here
• Read about Domhnall’s training by clicking here
• Read the Palace statement about Prince Harry leaving the Army here
• For a video of the Band of the Irish Guards playing at today’s ceremony, click here
• The Daily Mail’s story with plenty of photos is here; The Daily Mirror’s photo gallery may be found here, The Daily Telegraph’s story and video may be seen here,  Richard Palmer’s story in The Express is here, PopSugar’s photo gallery with those jumbo pictures is here
• An  ITV video is here, ITN’s 4-minute+ video is here (including @Domhnall losing his shamrocks!), the BBC South Today video is here