The Duchess selected a style from Emilia Wickstead for the final day of the royal tour. The day’s events were in Hamburg, Germany’s second-largest city. The first stop was the city’s Maritime Museum.
From The Daily Express:
Kate mania continued as Hamburg, gripped by the 35-year-old’s charm, turned out in force to welcome the royal.
Kate during a quick walkabout.
Welcome to #Hamburg! #Kate und #William kommen am Bahnhof Dammtor an. #RoyalVisitGermany #RoyalsInHH @KensingtonRoyal pic.twitter.com/CWv2H1vndN
— Stefan Schneider (@Schneider_BILD) July 21, 2017
The Museum visit was meant to focus attention on the UK-German Year of Science, an initiative focused on the world’s oceans. It has a terrific model of the Queen Mary II made entirely of Legos.
The next stop was at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, one of the largest concert halls in the world. The couple heard a special performance for children by the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra. From The Daily Mail’s coverage:
The Duchess of Cambridge tried her hand at conducting a prestigious symphony orchestra today when she and Prince William visited Hamburg’s new concert hall.
On the last day of their royal tour of Germany, Kate, who comes from a musical family and played flute throughout her school days, took a conductor’s baton and directed the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra for a few brief seconds as they played the first four notes of Beethoven’s fifth symphony – ‘da, da, da, daaa’.
The crowds remained large throughout the afternoon; people gathered to see William and Kate. Below, the couple at their final stop of the day before they depart for home, the Airbus Hamburg Campus.
On their way to see the final assembly of an A320 aircraft.
After the Airbus tour Kate and William met Charlotte and George for a special treat. More from The Evening Standard
…the family took to the tarmac where the choppers, worth an estimated £12million combined, were waiting at the Airbus site in Hamburg.
Prince William, who flies the H145 for the air ambulance, proudly gave demonstrations to his family.
Charlotte and Kate.
George seemed utterly delighted.
Then it was time to head for home.
Back to The Evening Standard:
George bravely bounded up the steps – ready to start his birthday celebrations.
Charlotte was helped up the steps by her doting dad while Kate said a final goodbye to the ambassador and mayor.
For all of the details on what George and Charlotte wore and many more photos, visit sister site What Kate’s Kids Wore.
Now for a look at Kate’s final tour ensemble. As noted above, the Duchess wore a bespoke dress by New Zealand-born and British-based designer Emilia Wickstead.
The frock features the fitted bodice seen on many of Kate’s Wickstead pieces, with a full skirt that looks like it draped beautifully. The fabric appears to be the same used in the Fall 2015 collection. Below, two dresses in the material. While long since sold out, visit Moda Operandi if you want to read more about pieces from that collection.
Kate carried an Anya Hindmarch clutch. The bag looks like it is made of snakeskin; it has goldtone hardware and measures about 10″ x 6″.
The clutch was discovered by Giulia on Twitter; a big thank you to her for the ID.
We saw the Duchess in her go-to Gianvito Rossi pumps in the praline colorway.
The style is available at Net-a-Porter in a shrinking range of sizes. They are also offered at My Theresa, but the sizes are limited. The shoe is $675 at both retailers.
Kate wore the Kiki McDonough Lavender Amethyst Pear and Oval Drop Earrings we first saw in Bhutan.
This evening Kensington Palace released a new photo commemorating Prince George’s 4th birthday.
The picture was taken at Kensington Palace at the end of June. From a news release:
The Duke and Duchess are delighted to share a new official portrait of Prince George to mark HRH’s 4th birthday tomorrow. TRH are very pleased to share this lovely picture, and would like to thank everyone for all of the kind messages they have received.
Some readers will recognize the photographer’s name; it is Chris Jackson of Getty Images. From a BBC story:
Getty Images royal photographer Mr Jackson, who took the photo at the end of June, said: “I’m thrilled and honoured that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen to release this portrait to celebrate Prince George’s fourth birthday.
“He is such a happy little boy and certainly injects some fun into a photoshoot.”
Below, Mr. Jackson attending Wimbledon in early July with his wife, Natasha Archer. Ms. Archer is one of the Duchess’s assistants, widely believed to act as her stylist.
Chris Jackson Instagram @ChrisJacksonGetty (Click photo to visit Mr. Jackson’s Instagram page)
It is a delight to have a new photo of Prince George. For the details on what he is wearing and a look back at previous birthdays, visit What Kate’s Kids Wore.
NOTE ON COMMENTS: I am deleting comments about whether or not the children should have been on the tour. I wasn’t paying attention and approved a few, and we now have a debate that doesn’t relate to Kate’s fashion or style. My bad, my apologies. (I’m blaming tour brain!)
Hilary
Wednesday 26th of July 2017
I seem to be in the minority here, but I do not like this dress. Sure, it is well made - Emilia Wickstead dresses are well made - and it fits well - BUT, it's boring, and it looks heavy and it just hangs on Kate. We all agree Kate is beautiful and lovely and a great ambassador for the UK, but this outfit is a total miss for me, including the accessories.
The dress does nothing for her. I appreciate that Kate may have been trying to do something for this outfit by adding a red clutch, but with screen resolutions being what they are, I just don't think the tone of the clutch goes with the tone of the dress. Purple and red can go together, but the tones have to be correct - so, not a risk to take when you are going to be photographed everywhere you go and the true colours are not going to be reproduced exactly.
I think the biggest problem here is THOSE SHOES - they are lovely shoes, but Kate wears them way too often and they simply do not go with this dress.......................I wonder if she has several pairs of the same praline pumps because it seems to me she wore them almost every day of this tour!
Hilary
Wednesday 26th of July 2017
On a more positive note, at least the waist is in the right place! It's often up too high.
Scarlett
Monday 24th of July 2017
This tour of William and Kate to Poland and Germany like all of their other tours (Canada; Los Angeles, USA; Denmark; Malaysia /Singapore/Solomon Island/Tuvalu; New Zealand/Australia; India/Bhutan; Canada (again); Vietnam; New York, USA; Paris, France) was a smashing success! Yes, Kate wore lovely clothes and accessories for every occasion. And, as usual, Kate looked stunning, beautiful and classy. But what really made each and every tour a triumph was how genuinely happy to be there W & K looked; how warm, friendly and down-to-earth to everyone they were; how the enormous crowds in every place waited to see them, to greet them, to call out their names, to shake their hands and take their pictures; how they made huge headlines in the newspapers everywhere they went; how absolutely delighted all the people looked when W & K went into their midst. All those people who happily cheered W & K in every single place that they have visited care about seeing them in person, not about what outfit Kate was wearing. Of course, if Kate looks lovely, people will like it, but what ordinary people love is the true warmth, sweetness and kindness that emanates from this lady. Kate transmits authenticity, and people see it, and sense it, and they love it. Fashion may be entertaining, but when everything is considered, fashion is not that important. There are other things that take precedent.
sue d
Tuesday 25th of July 2017
Vietnam tour must be a typo!
Anyway I agree with you that Kate is genuine and kind and above all.....an amazing DOC!
Rachel
Monday 24th of July 2017
Well said. It must be an incredibly stressful lifestyle to always have eyes on you and your children...Kate always seems to take it all in stride, even Charlotte's feet stomping! You are correct that they both look so genuinely happy and at ease during their interactions with the public. Regardless of all our opinions on her wardrobe choices, The Duchess is a remarkable woman!
Bonnie
Monday 24th of July 2017
You've expressed, Scarlett, how so many of us feel. William and Kate are the best good will ambassadors that Britain has.
MEL
Sunday 23rd of July 2017
It's not my favourite of the tour - but nice enough. Nice colour and the red clutch is a winner. Chunky red shoes - with a thick heel and red belt would have rounded off the dress a lot better.
SaraF
Sunday 23rd of July 2017
Okay, I really can't understand this. Do red and lavender match? I have always felt that they clash terribly and seeing Kate carrying the red clutch with the lavender dress set my teeth on edge (I was hoping that the lighting on the photos was bad and it wasn't really red).
I thought everyone was going to pan the juxtaposition, but instead lots of people seem to like it. Have the rules changed while I wasn't watching?
SaraF
Sunday 23rd of July 2017
Susan, a million thanks for a yeoman job reporting on this trip! I can't even imagine doing all that research, not to say sifting through hundreds of comments. I hope you're going to take a nice few days off now for some r&r. You deserve it!
mocro
Sunday 23rd of July 2017
First and foremost, thank you Susan for doing such a great reporting/analysis job on this trip. You must groan when you hear Kate & William are hitting the road! Visiting your site is such a welcome relief to the day's news and you are very much appreciated.
I loved this simple dress although thought 3/4 or to-the-elbow sleeves would have improved it. Hard to focus on Kate when I could look at Charlotte's darling little foot-stamping and later a skip in her step! This was a pretty mild tantrum that Kate handled with aplomb. She's absolutely a paragon!
ElizaMo
Sunday 23rd of July 2017
I'd like to add my own thanks to Susan for an epic achievement on this tour, taking in George and Charlotte outfits on top of keeping up with Kate. She didn't ease up the pace of new outfits once -- no cushy repeats at all!
I'd also like to thank everyone here for all the lovely chat, this is a fabulous bunch of folk to be with and the variety of comments and breadth of input along with the civilised tone of exchange make this a very special place to visit. Thanks all.
Sahara
Saturday 22nd of July 2017
love the dress, really really love it, but what on earth possessed her to wear that clutch??
Susan
Sunday 23rd of July 2017
Agree! Gorgeous dress. My only favorite of the tour. Shoes were great. The clutch was out of place. Would have been better to carry nude colored one? I'm sure she's trying to stay current and not appear "matchy-matchy" but classic never goes out of style.