Kate in Orla Kiely as she Dances with Paddington Bear

What do you wear to go dancing with Paddington Bear?

An Orla Kiely dress, of course.

The Duchess surprised us this morning with an unexpected appearance.

She joined Prince William and Prince Harry at (where else?) Paddington Station.

Kate has been so ill she was not expected to attend today’s Charities Forum event but felt well enough this morning that she decided to take part in the event. The Forum is the umbrella organization for all of William, Kate and Harry’s patronages.

The royals met stars from the film Paddington 2.

From Richard Palmer’s story for The Express:

The three royals joined actor Hugh Bonneville and other members of the cast of Paddington 2 at the station, where they met 130 children from around a dozen of the 30 organisations supported by their royal charities forum.

Stars with some of the children.

Continuing Richard’s story:

They spent 45 minutes chatting to the children on board the Belmond British Pullman steam train, the sister train to the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, before waving the children off as they set off on a journey into the English countryside.

From Rebecca English’s story in the Daily Mail: 

She had a long chat with Esther Windsor and her daughter Lilly, 10, from the Anna Freud Centre in north London.

She discussed her shared love of art with Lilly. ‘So you’re creative. It’s great fun, isn’t it?’ she said. The two also discussed seeing the first Paddington movie and their plans to see the second, which opens on November 10.

‘Have you ever been on a train like this? No, I haven’t either. I was just saying how big and comfy the seats are.’

I believe this is Lilly’s mother, Esther Wilson.

Prince Harry with some of the children.

Rebecca Taylor’s Daily Mirror story also noted that when a woman from Child Bereavement UK asked if Kate was there, William said: “Yes, she’s in another carriage. She is feeling much better.”

More from the Daily Mirror piece:

The event was organised by BAFTA on board the Belmond British Pullman train. Kate and William and Harry also met children and the charities they support.

The Charities Forum meets biannually, and organisations take turns to host the group. The charities then update their Royal Highnesses on their projects and activities.

Harry with two Scouts from North London.

Simon Carter UK Scouting (click photo to visit feed)

Two more photos of today’s fun.

Harry seems to be asking where his seat on the train is.

People magazine’s Simon Perry shared a video of Kate dancing with Paddington.

Watch: Dancing queen? Kate is taken for a dance by Paddington bear before she waves off a vintage train pic.twitter.com/sfxqwUg089

— Simon Perry (@SPerryPeoplemag) October 16, 2017

Hugh Bonneville shared this photo on his Facebook page. In the picture, you see Maddie Harris (Judy), Alexandra Ferguson Derbyshire & Rosie Alison (Producers) and Samuel Joslin (Jonathan). (With thanks to my friend Micki Maynard for the tip, Mr. Bonneville shared several photos in an album on his Facebook page, including one with Kate.)   

Hugh Bonneville Facebook (click photo to visit page)

While every Kate sighting is a treat, this one was especially so, because Kate danced—yes, danced—with Paddington Bear, the beloved children’s book character.She got into it, too: She swayed! She smiled! She twirled!

Now to what Kate wore for today’s engagement.

The Duchess was in a dress that was probably purchased several years ago, it is from the Orla Kiely a/w 2013 collection.

The fitted piece is crafted from a polyester fabric with appliquéd flowers.

“We don’t know in advance, so it is a case of ‘oh, holy smoke’,” she told Ryan Tubridy earlier this year.

“It’s lovely when anyone in the public eye wears something,” said Orla, who received an honorary O.B.E. She [Kate Middleton] wears a dress beautifully.”

The frock features three-quarter sleeves, a concealed back zipper, black trim at the neck, and a detachable bow belt. This allows you to see the darts at the waist.  

It has been some time since Kate wore Orla Kiely for an official engagement. Below you see the Duchess on other occasions in pieces by the designer: in October 2015 the Duchess repeated a dress for a teen mentoring event; she wore an Orla Kiely skirt at a Place2Be forum in November of 2013; also in November 2013, we saw the return of the Bird Print Dress; Kate first wore a grey pleated frock for an engagement with Prince Charles March 2012; and February 2012, when Kate first wore the ‘Bird Print Dress’ for engagements in Oxford. 

Many thanks to Jacqueline on the Facebook page and WhatMegWore for input and links helping with today’s post. 

Kate was in a new (to us) pair of heels by Tod’s, the label’s black suede pumps. They feature a point toe and block heel that is about 3.5″ high. The style is sold out, but if interested in more photos of the shoe, it was available at My Theresa.

The shoes were identified by Giulia on Twitter. She says she recognized them right away because she had tried them on at a Tod’s outlet store when she was looking for Kate’s burgundy pair of Tod’s heels. Alas, she did not buy them. (Insert sad face here!)

We saw the return of Kate’s black suede Bayswater clutch by Mulberry.

It looked like the Duchess was wearing her Kiki McDonough pink morganite drops. (With thanks to Valerie!)

And her Cartier Ballon de Bleu wristwatch.

Paddington 2 is slated to open in the UK on November 10 and January 12 in the USA.

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A quick shopping note: we’ve added some styles similar to the Tod’s heels to our RepliKate Footwear page.

We also have some great pieces on the RepliKate dresses page from the Duchess’s last engagement.

As well as other dress styles, earrings, bracelets and boots.

An update on our book giveaway: I have emailed both winners!

We’ll leave you with ITV’s video of the Duchess and the dancing bear.

The Duchess of Cambridge dances with Paddington Bear, in her second public appearance since announcing that she is expecting her third child pic.twitter.com/tDJsvgB2Zq

— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 16, 2017

NOTE: The post originally said Kate was wearing her green amethyst earrings. With thanks to Valerie for her comment, it has been corrected to reflect she wore her pink morganite earrings.

LINKAGE:

• Richard Palmer’s Express article is here; The Daily Mail story is here; The Telegraph’s article is here; The Evening Standard story is here; The Independent piece is here
• People’s photo gallery is here; PopSugar’s photo gallery is here; the Fug Girls piece is here