Kate in Altuzarra as Royal Family Marks International Nurses Day

In honor of International Nurses Day a new video has been released featuring the Royal Family.

It includes a special greeting and thank you message from all of the royals, including Kate.

If wondering why the day is marked today, it is because Florence Nightengale’s birthday was May 12. Today is the 200th anniversary of her birth and the World Health Organization has designated 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.  The theme for this year’s Nurses Day is Nursing the World to Health.

More about the video from Hannah Furness in her Daily Telegraph story. 

The Queen has led her family in a major royal effort to thank nurses across the world for “keeping the show on the road” during coronavirus, as they released a “chorus” of gratitude to the medical profession. 

The Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Princess Royal and Countess of Wessex appeared in a lively montage of video calls, telling nurses: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” 

The joint royal effort is the first “zoom” engagement undertaken by the wider family as a team, and was captured for posterity on a five-minute-long video.

In the call, you hear HM speaking with Professor Kathleen McCourt, the President of the Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation and Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, of which The Queen is Patron.  Chris Ship of ITV pointed out “It’s believed to be the first time Buckingham Palace has released audio of the Queen on a telephone call.”  Here is the video. 

From The Queen and The Royal Family this #InternationalNursesDay: thank you. ??

Read more here: https://t.co/WraSKu8wAd pic.twitter.com/rUrvWzR5Po

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 12, 2020

The Duchess of Cornwall recorded messages of support for nurses from the Royal Naval Medical Service and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children Charity, of which she is respectively Commodore-in-Chief and Patron.

Here you see the Duchess meeting patients and nurses from the charity in January.

Yesterday the Duchess and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, spoke with nurses in seven different Commonwealth countries. Here you see them chatting with maternal health nurses from Phalombe District hospital in Malawi, a country Sophie has visited.

Below, talking with army nurses in Cyprus. 

In this frame you see them speaking with staff from the LV Prasada Eye Institute in India, which the Countess has visited.

At one point in the 5-minute video, you can hear Kate say, “I don’t know how you manage to do this and keep the show on the road despite the extra pressures you’re all under and the challenging conditions.” She also told nurses they should be “so proud of the work that you do.” Below, speaking with mental health nurses in the Bahamas.

The Duchess and Countess also spent time speaking with staff from Evelina London Children’s Hospital. Kate is the Royal Patron of the hospital.

Last week, Prince William spoke with nurses at The Royal Marsden, of which he is President. 

Over the weekend, Princess Anne chatted with the Program Manager of a medical ship providing facilities for people with little or no access to medical care. The project is supported by the Vine Trust of which she is Patron.

And Princess Alexandra, the Queen’s cousin, spoke with the head of the Naval Nursing Service in her role as Patron of Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS), the nursing arm of the Royal Navy.

Sophie and Kate’s calls were arranged by Nursing Now, one of Kate’s patronages. The organization aims to improve health globally by raising the profile and status of nurses worldwide. This is a post from the Nursing Now Facebook page.

You may recall the Nursing Now launch in February 2018. 

Today a letter Kate sent Nursing Now in April was released. 

Now for our look at what Kate wore in the video.

We begin with her Altazurra dress, first worn for a visit to Stewards Academy in September 2016. 

The ‘Aimee’ style was part of the designer’s pre-fall 2018 collection.

From my original 2018 post: ‘The sky blue fabric (officially called Regatta by the label) is a stretch crêpe in a blend of viscose and nylon, with a touch of spandex…gathers at the shoulders, as well as the front and back yoke. The front bib is so deep it creates a bib-effect on the bodice… design elements include a vee neck, button-front, and half-sleeves that are ruched.’

It looked like Kate brought back the Patrick Mavros Ocean Tides Milky Quartz earrings first noted in video calls released on May 3rd. 

Thank you to all of our WKW friends who are nurses, including several with whom I have been fortunate enough to chat and/or correspond.  You do amazing work and we’re all so, so appreciative.   

One other fashion byte: our friends at Cambridge Mums did an Instagram post today pointing out something I had missed. As they said in their post, “Kate has literally worn a rainbow” since the lockdown started. Here is the graphic they made.  

The rainbow as a sign of hope and thanks to frontline workers has played center stage in the UK. And in her speech to the UK and Commonwealth last month, The Queen said that rainbows would a symbol of national spirit.” This is a brilliant spot by the Mums. You can follow Cambridge Mums here on Instagram and here on Twitter.  

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Also today, word that more than 5000 photos have been submitted to the Hold Still photography project Kate launched last week with the National Portrait Gallery. Here is an update on the endeavor from ITV’s This Morning show, including an interview with royal photographer Arthur Edwards. (He shares one of his favorite photos of Kate in the piece.) Thank you to Christin for this link! 

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Finally, a quick note from our Retail Roundup section: Superga is offering 40% off sitewide on the US site with promo code BLOOM.  This makes Kate’s Cotu Classic in White $39. On the UK site, there is a 20% discount with promo code THANKU20, making the Cotu Classic in ‘Sherwood Gum’ and also in the white colorway $57.29 (instead of $68.75). One FYI, on the UK site, shipping is free to UK addresses, but it is $25 to ship to the US. A big ‘thank you’ to Nazeem for the tip!

LINKAGE: 

• The Nursing Now website is here; the organization’s Facebook page is here and Twitter feed here 
• The Telegraph’s story by Hannah Furness is here; Victoria Murphy’s Town and Country article is here; a Hello! piece by Danielle Stacey is here; Simon Perry’s People coverage is here; The Mirror’s piece is here; Chris Ship’s article for ITV is here