Kate is in the Pink for Palace Christmas Luncheon

The Duchess wore festive pink for today’s annual Christmas luncheon.

The Queen hosts the event every year at Buckingham Palace.

More from Hello!:

 Every year in the week leading up to the 25th, Her Majesty hosts a big luncheon for extended members of her family. It’s an opportunity for the monarch to catch up with all of her relatives, before she retreats to Sandringham where she is joined by only her immediate family.

The Palace Christmas decorations have been up for several weeks.

The Christmas Trees have arrived at Buckingham Palace!
? Watch as the Marble Hall transforms for the festive season. #Christmas #BuckinghamPalace pic.twitter.com/bsdFvWbacN

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) December 4, 2018

This year the royal family shared recipes for some of the tastier treats served at palace receptions during the holidays. In a feature titled, “Inside the Royal Kitchens at Christmas” you can read about some of the desserts made by royal chefs. The Royal Family account tweeted that “Royal Pastry chefs will create over 1,200 mince pies for each of the festive receptions held at the Palaces this Christmas.”

The pastries are for scheduled receptions, not today’s party; we don’t know what was served at that event. We do know the luncheon is always very well attended.  Following are images of royal family members arriving at the Palace, starting with the Duke of Edinburgh, who came in from Windsor to be at the lunch.

It is good to see the 97-year-old Duke at family functions.

The Gloucester’s younger daughter, Lady Rose Windsor, husband George Gilman, and daughter Lyla as they left Buckingham Palace.

More about the Queen’s plans for Christmas via Camilla Tominey, writing for The Telegraph’s royal newsletter.

The 92-year-old monarch is expected to take the train from King’s Cross to King’s Lynn tomorrow so she can be in Norfolk to help with all the finishing touches before around 35 loved ones descend on the 8,000 hectare estate on Christmas Eve.

Now for our brief look at what Kate wore.

She was in a pink blouse or dress.

Ashley suggested on Facebook it might be the Stella McCartney dress worn to a birthday dinner for Prince Philip back in 2011. (Jane has pictures in today’s From Berkshire to Buckingham post.) It looks to me like the fabric in the photos from today is more matte, without the sheen you see with the McCartney dress. It appears there is a ruffle or some other fabric element at the throat. 

This view offers a slightly different angle.  

At this point, the garment is officially a UFO.

We have what could be a separate mystery, this one related to the earrings worn by the Duchess this afternoon. Initially, I thought they were the In2Design Baroque Pearl Earrings ($152) first seen during the Sweden tour in January. But looking at the earrings worn today, the hoops look different from the  In2Design style. The pearl also seems to have a tiny gold cap missing on the In2Design pair.

EARRING UPDATE: I went back to find hi-res images from the Sweden visit and now see that Kate is wearing the same pair she wore in January. Below you see two images on the left from Sweden; they clearly show the back of the hoop is the same as that on today’s earrings. Apologies to all for any confusion! They just looked very different in the photo I happened to download from today; thank you to all for your input.

An additional note on the earrings: Valerie commented, saying she owns the earrings and this is the In2Design pair.

Our post on what Meghan wore is here and our very brief post on George and Charlotte is at What Kate’s Kids Wore here.

LINKAGE:

• The Daily Mail’s story is here; The Daily Mirror’s coverage is here
• Ainhoa Barcelona’s Hello! story is here; People’s slideshow is here; PopSugar’s gallery is here; Bazaar has a gallery here; the Fug Girls post is here