Kate at Coach Core Event, A Due Date & Tour Update, & A New Book Giveaway

The Duchess surprised us with another engagement today, joining William and Harry for a Coach Core event.

More on that in a moment, but first some newsbytes we need to cover.

• We have a due date for the baby. Kensington Palace made that announcement yesterday via Twitter.

• The tour Kate and William planned to undertake in November has been postponed until ‘early next year’ because of Kate’s health. The couple was scheduled to visit three Scandinavian countries, but will now jointly visit just two: Norway and Sweden. William will go to Finland, the third country on the itinerary, in November.

Now for today’s engagement. The Duchess, Prince William and Prince Harry attended graduation ceremonies for 150 Coach Core apprentices.

An update on Kate’s health comes from Rebecca English’s story in The Daily Mail.

A Royal source says ‘she’s better and is keen to do as much as she can. But she’s taking it day-to-day in deciding what she can do.’

The event was at London Stadium in Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park.

More from People magazine’s story by Simon Perry.

…the program aims to improve the availability and quality of sports coaching and boost the confidence of 16-24 year olds with limited opportunities.

It also emphasizes employability and mentoring skills. By training young people as sports coaches, the program encourages them to be positive role models and mentors in their communities, too.

Some may recall the Coach Core launch back in July 2012.

Judy Murray took part in today’s function. Back to Simon Perry’s People story:

Judy Murray, a tennis coach who helped train her son Andy to Grand Slam standard, caught up with Kate to talk about their shared love of sports. She tells PEOPLE, “To have the backing of the princes and the duchess is amazing and a huge inspiration for all the young people.”

Here you see Ms. Murray chatting with William, Kate and Ade Adepitan, a wheelchair basketball player.

The Royals walking onstage.

Kate and William listen to Prince Harry delivering remarks.

From Harry’s speech:

“William, Catherine and I, and everyone involved in the Coach Core Programme are incredibly proud of you.”

“It was clear that all three of us believed firmly that sport could be such a powerful force for good.”

Today’s engagement was at the home field for the West Ham football club; the Duke and Duchess were presented with mini West Ham uniforms for George and Charlotte.

More about that from the Daily Mail story.

But club captain Mark Noble is not sure the little royals will get to wear the shirts — which were decorated with the children’s name and numbered with their respective ages of four and two — as Dad William is an Aston Villa fan.

Noble said: ‘We know that William’s an Aston Villa fan so whether it gets put on or not I don’t know. Whether they’ll let George do that I don’t know! It was a gesture from us as a welcome to the club really.

Now to what Kate wore for today’s engagement.

She was in a piece that may look familiar; Carly of Kate Middleton Style immediately pegged it as the same jacket Kate has in red, from Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini.

Kate wore the red version at an Air Cadets event on Valentine’s Day. Our details about the piece come from our February post:

It is a rayon/wool blend with classic double-breasted styling, and it features front patch pockets, peak lapels, front darts, center back vent, and embossed shank buttons. The official color name is claret, a stellar shade for Valentine’s Day.

From the label’s Resort 2017 collection, the piece is long since sold out.

This is another example of the Duchess purchasing identical items in different colors for her wardrobe, something that I think makes perfect sense for someone in her position.

It looks like Kate’s shoes may be from Russell and Bromley.

Russell and Bromley confirm Kate was wearing their Fallon Dry Mid-Zip Chelsea boot,’ a design from the retailer’s collaboration with Aquatalia. One distinctive element of the shoe: two zippers, one on the inside and one on the outside. The style is made of weather-resistant black suede, with a stacked heel and 2.5″ heel.

Christin at Packham Gown recognized Kate’s earrings right away, the Kiki McDonough Lauren Leaf style (£1833, about $2400). 

We have a couple of quick repliKates from our RepliKate Earrings page: on the left, the Danori Gold-tone Heart Pavé Earrings ($35) and on the right, the Giani Bernini Cubic Zirconia Pavé Heart Drop earrings ($22.46). Both are shown at Macy’s.

For those keeping track of what color Kate is wearing (in terms of pink vs blue), here is how it has looked in her last three engagements.

It’s terrific to see the Duchess out and about, clearly enjoying herself at the recent engagements. Hopefully, her health will continue to improve in coming days and weeks.

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Our other item: a book giveaway. I know, we rarely do giveaways anymore, and now here we are with back-to-back book giveaways! This is one that fans of The Crown television series will enjoy enormously. The official title is The Crown: The Official Companion, Volume 1: Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill, and the Making of a Young Queen (1947-1955). The book is authored by a name many readers will recognize, Robert Lacey, royal historian and author. 

The book has just been published. Here is a brief description from the publisher, Penguin Random House:

Written by the show’s historical consultant, royal biographer Robert Lacey, and filled with beautifully reproduced archival photos and show stills, The Crown: The Official Companion: Volume 1 adds expert and in-depth detail to the events of the series, painting an intimate portrait of life inside Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street.

This is a 346-page hardcover, and it’s filled with all sorts of fabulous content. 

More from a Daily Mail story about the book, quoting Peter Morgan, who created and wrote the television series :

In the foreword to Lacey’s book, Morgan writes: ‘What is truth, and what is fiction? It’s clear that many viewers, while watching The Crown, did so while scrolling through Wikipedia, searching for answers.’

Lacey tells us: ‘You are watching a historical drama, dear reader, not a history documentary. The Crown is a work of creative fiction that has been inspired by real events…What you see on the screen is both truth and invention.’

There are wonderful photos throughout the book, both historical and from the series, but I think my favorite part is the level of detail Mr. Lacey goes into when describing events and those involved in them.

And are eagerly awaiting Season 2. It will be available on Netflix in just a few weeks, on December 8.

The Crown: The Official Companion is available in the US at Amazon, and also at Barnes and Noble. It is also offered in Canada at Indigo Books as well as Amazon Canada.

We are giving away three copies of the book. All you have to do is leave a comment saying why you would enjoy reading it. (Even if you’re not a fan, or haven’t yet watched the series, get creative and think of something, and you’ll be entered.)

Entries will be open until Sunday night at midnight EDT.

That reminds me to congratulate Rachael in London and Cathie in Canada; they are the two winners of the book How to Dress Like a Princess by Claudia Joseph in our previous giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took part, I loved reading your comments. They were terrific.

NOTE: The post initially cited November 8 as the date for Season 2 of The Crown. It has been updated to reflect December 8 as the worldwide release date. (With thanks to Stephanie for her comment letting me know the correct date.)

Comments on the post have been closed as we have selected our three winners. Thank you to everyone who took part in the giveaway!

LINKAGE:

• The Coach Core website is here and the organization’s Twitter feed is here
• The Daily Mail’s photo-laden coverage of today’s engagement is here; The Daily Mirror’s story is here; The Telegraph’s article is here; The Express coverage is here
• Simon Perry’s People story is here; the Hello! story is here
• PopSugar’s fashion story and photo gallery is here; PopSugar’s news story & gallery may be seen here; The Fug Girls piece and gallery about today’s ‘sporty shenanigans’ is here; Just Jared’s gallery is here