It’s Zara for Video Call with Students & Kate’s Easter Ensembles

Hello-Hello and Chag Sameach to all celebrating Passover this week, along with good thoughts for everyone marking Holy Week and Easter. Today we look at a video call the Duke and Duchess did with primary school students, as well as a few throwback Thursday styles.  We start with yesterday’s Zoom call. 

A Heads Together release notes, “They spoke with staff and children at Castleton Primary Academy, a Place2Be partner school, which is located close to Burnley General Hospital and has a high percentage of children whose parents are key workers. The school has remained open as a hub for five academies in the surrounding area that are part of the Pendle Education Trust.”More from this Daily Mail story: 

William, 37, and Kate, 38, were seen giggling as the pupils, wearing Easter-themed bunny ears, presented them with a ‘virtual’ bouquet of paper flowers.  

The couple, dialing in from their Norfolk home, Anmer Hall, spoke to staff and youngsters from Casterton Primary Academy in Lancashire, where teachers are helping to look after the children of key workers in frontline services including the NHS and social care, as well as supermarkets and delivery drivers.

As noted above, the school is located near Burnley General Hospital, and several children have parents who work at the hospital. Some shared pictures they made of their parents, like Harris and Lloyd, seen below. 

More from The Mirror’s coverage: 

Harris told them: “This is a picture of my mum and she works for the NHS as an admin for the health visitors and I’m really proud of her.” The Duke said: “Well done you! Look at that, that’s a great picture.”

Kate, 38, added: “You should be very proud of her, they’re doing an amazing job, all the NHS workers, so well done.”

Showing them her own picture, Lloyd said: “This is my mum and she works at a special school.”

Hello! reports, “Another pupil said that their dad was a packer in a bakery, to which William replied: “That’s a very important job too, keeping everyone well fed.”

Here is one little girl speaking about her artwork. 

Our children spoke to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge about their amazing key worker parents. We’ll share some of them with you here… pic.twitter.com/E3ES3UEXVR

— Casterton Primary Academy (@ShineCasterton) April 9, 2020

 These four children sharing their artwork are brothers and sisters, and their mother is a careworker. In addition to the picture Lloyd painted of his mother, he also made Kate a bouquet of flowers. More from The Daily Mail: 

‘He had spent three days painstakingly making paper flowers covered with ladybirds for the Duchess,’ Anita said, adding: ‘He spent so much time on it and called himself the origami king. He did a virtual handover of his posey. He was very proud. 

‘The flowers had ladybirds on them and the Duchess said her Louis loved ladybirds and had been in out in the garden looking for them.’   

Here is Loyd talking about the flowers he made. 

pic.twitter.com/V7lVwOtHNV

— Casterton Primary Academy (@ShineCasterton) April 9, 2020

 The Duchess said, “Well done honestly to you and everyone who’s in during this time. It must be such a relief for all the parents, who are key workers, to know that the normality is there for their children – they’ve got the structure, and they’ve got a safe place for them to be, so really really well done to all of you.”

Anita Ghidotti, president of the Pendle Education Trust, spoke about the call. 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spent time video chatting to kids of key workers yesterday ?@AnitaGhidotti tells #BBCBreakfast that William and Kate put the children at ease ⤵️
More here: https://t.co/eeoHpouzwx pic.twitter.com/mMkzqRfTHw

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) April 9, 2020

More via Hello’s story: “Leala Porter, Project Manager at Pendle Primary Academy, Place2Be, said: “We were so massively grateful that they took the time to call us. There’s been a genuine warmth throughout the school today with the children. The couple talked a lot about our northern spirit and thanked us for all we were doing. It meant such a lot.”

The Duchess wore what appears to be a past-season Zara sweater. 

Here is a closer look; it better shows the gathers at the shoulder not really visible in the product shot above.  Many thanks to HeavenQRF for another stellar ID.

The piece is a viscose/nylon blend. It was also offered as a dress that is very similar to the Zara dress worn when the Duchess was in Wales this February.

It looked like Kate had on her Catherine Zoraida Fern Leaf Earrings (£165 / $205) shown below as worn at a previous engagement. 

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Because we do not expect to see Kate and William at Easter services this Sunday I thought it would be fun to review Easter ensembles we have seen in previous years. We begin with the Duchess’s look last year.

A quick peek at HM after last year’s service.

Two more images of Kate in the dove grey suit by Alexander McQueen, first seen in 2014 (more on that shortly).

The Duchess accessorized with a clutch and heels by Emmy London and a hat by Jane Taylor; we’ll also look at more closely a bit further down in the post. Fans were delighted to see the return of the diamond acorn earrings by Robinson Pelham first seen at Kate and William’s 2011 wedding.

Kate also brought back a brooch featuring oak leaves and four “acorns” crafted of gold and a pearl. The Middleton family crest features acorns. (The brooch as worn Easter 2019 is shown below left and on other occasions in the center and right closeups.)

The Duchess was expecting Prince Louis when attending Easter services in 2018, and she wore the chocolate brown Catherine Walker coat seen in 2015 for St. Patrick’s Day with the Irish Guards. The double wool crepe garment features princess seams and box pleats. 

A look at HM leaving the chapel in 2018.

Kate accessorized with her oft-worn Betty Boop hat by Lock and Company. 

She repeated her Gianvito Rossi suede heels and Loeffler-Randall “Tab Lizard-Effect Leather Clutch.” For jewelry, the Duchess wore her Balenciaga earrings and faux pearl brooch. 

At the 2017 Easter service, it was also a Catherine Walker repeat. 

Below, a view of the Duke and Duchess approaching St. George’s Chapel in Windsor with several other royals enjoying the sunshine on their way to the chapel. Below you can see Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice as well as Lady Louise and Viscount Severn, accompanying their parents, the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

And HM exiting the service. 

The custom Catherine Walker coat was initially seen in Canada during the 2016 tour, shown below left.

She wore her Rupert Sanderson Malory pumps and carried a clutch by Etui Bags.

Kate debuted a new hat in 2017, the Jacqueline style by Lock and Company, and brought back the loaned diamond and pearl drop earrings.

In April 2014, we saw Kate and William at Easter services in Sydney, Australia. That was the first time we saw the Duchess in the ensemble that she brought back for last year’s Easter service.

The tailored coat looks like it was based on this McQueen piece. It features a funnel neck, concealed front fastening, structured shoulders, inset pockets on the side seams, and a rear vent.

Here you see it as worn last year and in 2014.

We also saw the return of the ‘Lupin’ hat created by Jane Taylor, worn with the coat in 2019 and 2014.

In Australia, Kate accessorized with her diamond and aquamarine drop earrings as well as a McQueen clutch and her Harper heels by LK Bennett.

We have a bonus dress to share as well, not worn for church services, but seen on Good Friday in 2014 when Kate and William attended Sydney’s annual Royal Easter Show.

The Duchess was in a dress by an Australian label, Zimmermann.  Below, the Duchess meets Fred the Ram. 

Kate also wore the dress for the couple’s trip to Manly Beach (left) and Bear Cottage Children’s Hospice (center) later that day.

The ‘Roamer Day Dress’ was done in one of Kate’s favorite fabrics, broderie anglaise. The knee-length piece was 100% cotton with fitted sleeves that hit at the elbow, an invisible center-back zipper and insert trim at the waist, bodice, sleeves, and hem. It was part of Zimmermann’s 2014 summer swim collection. 

Kate paired the dress with Minx Espadrille Wedges by Stuart Weitzman. 

That covers our little Easter retrospective!  

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One other note today: Wimbledon released a video titled We Cheer for Them. Narrated by Roger Federer, the video notes, “Play is suspended, but now we cheer for a different kind of champion.” 

Big hugs from here on Planet Kate to everyone. May all marking the holidays enjoy them in safety and health, and may the same be true for those you love.