Kate in Blue Catherine Walker & Séraphine Maternity for Snowy Oslo Arrival UPDATED

NOTE: Some of you may have seen me reference a second post to deal with the activities after the welcome and Palace arrival, but I decided to keep it all in one post, including the outside events with Kate in new boots and her alpaca hat.

Kate returned to Catherine Walker for day 3 of the royal tour.

There was heavy snow in Sweden and Norway today as the Duke and Duchess arrived at Oslo Gardermoen Airport.

Kate and William were greeted by Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

You get a sense of the snow in this photo from People’s Simon Perry.

Kate and Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

Today’s high tempo in Oslo was expected to be 36℉ and it looked windy; it had to be brisk out on the tarmac.

After the airport greeting, the Duke and Duchess headed to the Royal Palace.

When they arrived the Duke and Duchess were welcomed by King Harald.

This is where William and Kate are staying while in Norway.

The couple was also greeted by Queen Sonja and other members of the Norwegian Royal Family. Below you see Kate and William with King Harald and Queen Sonja.

The photos were taken in the Bird Room. It is one of the best-known rooms at the Palace; its decor was designed to resemble an open garden pavilion.

This picture includes Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

After lunch, it was time to tour the Princess Ingrid Alexandra Sculpture Park. Below, you see Princess Ingrid on the far right next to Queen Sonja; on the left, you see Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon.

The garden was officially opened last fall by the 14-year-old, second in line to the throne. More from the Evening Standard.

Following lunch, the couple were given a tour of the Princess Ingrid Alexandra Sculpture Park within the palace gardens, Slottsparken, which opened last year to mark the 25th anniversary of 80-year-old King Harald V’s reign and is named after the young princess.

Kate, William and Crown Princess Mette-Marit looking at a sculpture.

The Park focuses on children and is located on the Palace grounds. People reports there are four sculptures at this point, and they are “designed by and for children, through cartoon competitions in schools across the country.”

Here you see the young Princess with her grandmother, Queen Sonja, and the Duke and Duchess.

Then it was time for a walkabout.

There was quite a crowd waiting to see the royals.

Here you see a gift Kate was given under her arm.

More from Hello!:

During the walkabout, William and Kate received gifts from the crowd, including a traditional Scandinavian knitted hat in red, white and blue, which had been presented to the Duchess by a teacher in the crowd, who said: “I thought the Prince might need it.”

Kate and William also visited MESH.

It is the largest co-working space in the Nordics, home to many start-ups and entrepreneurs.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit with Kate and William as shown in this photo via the Royal Family’s Instagram account.

In this picture, Prince William is getting a virtual tour of Saint Andrews University.

Kensington Palace shared a video on Twitter.
Embed from Getty Images

Simon Perry reports the four royals were trying out a device called the reMARKable tablet in this picture.

Kate and Crown Prince Haakon seemed to be having some fun with the tablet.

We have a sidebar note about events before the arrival in Norway. The day was supposed to begin at Uppsala Airbase in Sweden, but an engagement there followed by a departure for Norway was canceled because of the weather. More from The Daily Mail:

In an announcement in the early hours of Thursday morning, Kensington Palace said: ‘Unfortunately the snowy weather in Stockholm today has meant that TRH’s travel plans have had to be changed. This morning’s engagement at Uppsala Airbase will not go ahead.’

In a speech last night, William said he had been ‘looking forward’ to the scheduled visit to Uppsala Airbase, an hour north of Stockholm, saying: ‘Your security concerns are ours, and it is hugely important that we continue to work ever more closely together to reduce threats.’

A planned meeting with Swedish Armed Forces Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist was moved from the Airbase to Stockholm.

Now we move to fashion.

Kate was in a new Catherine Walker coat.

The Duchess returned to a favorite brand for today’s dress, Séraphine Maternity.  She was in the Marlene dress, a style from the company’s Luxe line.

The piece features a lace bodice and sleeves, ruffled collar and cuffs, solid blue skirt, black trim at the waist, collar and cuffs, and a concealed back zipper. The fabric content isn’t listed on the website, I imagine it is a mix of fibers.

The Duchess wore her Tod’s suede heels for the arrival and MESH visit.

And a new pair of brown boots for the park tour. With thanks to Maddelena and Emma4Royal, it looks like Kate wore the Stuart Weitzman Fifty Fifty.UPDATE FEB 6: Russell and Bromley confirmed to Middleton Maven that Kate wore the Stuart Weitzman Half ‘n Half in brown, the style currently shown on the brand’s site.

The boot is available at Russell and Bromley (£455, about $635 at today’s exchange rates), described as offering “…a knee-high alternative to the iconic 50-50. In luxurious brown suede with a low block heel, these boots are detailed with trademark stretch panel at the back for a clean fit and elongated silhouette”.

For the sculpture park viewing and walkabout, Kate wore her Lacorine ‘Sumac’ hat in chocolate brown. We first saw it when Kate attended church services at Sandringham in January.  

The Duchess carried her black Bayswater clutch by Mulberry at the airport and then switched to her brown Muse bag for the afternoon activities. (*Thank you* to everyone who commented about this, I forgot to include it when updating.) When arriving Kate had on a pair of her Cornelia James gloves, it looked like either the Imogen or Beatrice style. UPDATE: Kate is wearing her Clementine gloves, also by Cornelia James; the pair was first seen at Sandringham in January.

UPDATE #2 (Feb. 2): After getting all of your input and looking at more photos, I was clearly wrong saying Kate only wore the one pair of gloves. She obviously wore the black gloves at the airport with her black shoes & clutch and then switched to her brown pair with her brown boots and bag for the after-lunch walkabout and sculpture park tour.

Below left, the Beatrice glove and on the right, the Clementine.

Kate wore her sapphire and diamond earrings and her hair was up for the arrival, styled much as it was for last night’s reception.

For the afternoon events, Kate wore her hair down.