The Duchess in Emilia Wickstead for Commonwealth Broadcast

The Duchess brought back an Emilia Wickstead dress for the taping of a BBC program celebrating Commonwealth Day.

Commonwealth Day is the second Monday of March and is usually marked with a service at Westminster Abbey. Below, the Queen arriving for last year’s service.

Because of the pandemic, this year there is a virtual service.  It features HM, who will deliver her annual Commonwealth Day address; the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall; the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge; and the Countess of Wessex. More about HM’s speech via the Commonwealth site.

The theme for the day, ‘Delivering a Common Future’, highlights how the 54 member countries in the Commonwealth are ‘innovating, connecting and transforming’ to help achieve some of its biggest goals, such as fighting climate change, promoting good governance and boosting trade.

The program airs at 5pm local time, noon on the east coast.  In the broadcast, the Duchess speaks about the ‘amazing work’ done by frontline workers. More from The Evening Standard. 

During the programme, Charles pays tribute to the “extraordinary determination, courage and creativity” of the Commonwealth’s people during the Covid crisis.

In an extract from the programme, Kate and William chat in a video call with Dr Zolelwa Sifumba, from South Africa, an advocate for the rights of healthcare workers on the front line.

The duchess tells the medic: “Here in the UK there’s been masses of public recognition of the amazing work the front line are doing and it’s sad, almost, that it’s taken the pandemic for the public to really back and support all those working on the front line.”

The Daily Mail reports the program will also air on the BBC YouTube channel.

Now for our look at what Kate wore in the video.  We first saw the Duchess wearing this Emilia Wickstead dress in November 2019 for an event launching the Emergencies Trust.

The Duchess wore the frock while visiting BBC Broadcast House when working on the launch of Tiny Happy People  in July 2020.

And she repeated it when marking Baby Loss Awareness Week in October 2020 with a visit to the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College London.

The ‘Kate dress’ has “a slim-fitting bodice, enhanced with contouring darts above and below the waistband, and falls to a fully lined midi-length A-line skirt.” (The Duchess’s dress is more of a knee-length hemline.)

The Duchess had on a new pair of earrings.  Lady Parky tweeted they may be by Zara. 

I’m wondering if these Zara ones are a match? The stock image doesn’t show the tip of the end on l of the hoop well though pic.twitter.com/LRxuAIV6jr

— Lady Parky by day Mrs Parky by night… (@LadyParky79) March 6, 2021

Chrissy suggested to Middleton Maven they may be this pair by Mejuri.

A personal note: the topic of gratitude for frontline workers is keenly felt here on Planet Kate. My mother is in hospice care at home.  ‘Amazing’ is a wonderful way to describe the support, concern and skill of the nurses and other medical personnel taking care of her and all of us who are with her.  She loved being part of What Kate Wore and every time I would see her or talk with her the first words out of her mouth were, “What is the Duchess doing today?”

That is why today’s post is brief. I want to spend as much time as possible with her and may also take a break after we say goodbye.