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It’s Tory Burch and Old Favorites for Royal Tour Day Two

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The Duchess chose a Tory Burch dress for day two of the Caribbean tour.

The Duke and Duchess started their day with a visit to the Che’il Mayan Cacao Farm, a family-run farm and shop.

More about the cocoa industry from the World Cocoa Foundation. 

Belize is still a very small origin for cacao producing less than 150 tons per year in total. However, chocolate made from Belizean beans has won several awards in international competitions, and is a Heirloom designation recognized by the Fine Chocolate Industry Association.

Earlier this year Maya Mountain Cacao, Corridgeree Belize and other industry participants formed the Cacao Agroforestry Institute of Belize. The group’s mission is to make sure cocoa production in Belize will scale sustainably. The immediate aims are to continue earlier work done to assess the local varieties for flavor, yield and disease resistance, and to provide training in the agroforestry system to small farmers.

The pair learned about the history of cacao in Maya culture.

In this video, you see how a cocoa pod is split open. 

The couple has a taste.

From The Mirror’s coverage: 

As the future Queen also watched her husband pounding away with a mortar and pestle made from volcanic rock she said: “The smell of the chocolate is amazing.”

William even joked about giving up his day job as a working royal asking Julio Saqui owner of the family run chocolate firm “Do you take apprentices? Can I come and work for you it’s my kind of thing.”

The couple’s eyes also lit up when they saw chocolate fountains – dipping tortilla chips into the brown sticky liquid – and they tried hot chocolate made from the organic farm with Kate confessing: “I think our children will be very jealous.” 

The Duchess also tried grinding some of the beans. 

Here is a quick video.  

More from The Evening Standard’s article.

The couple began their tour of the chocolate production at the firm’s 10-acre farm, one of a number of plots they cultivate, and were shown the cocoa trees laden with fruit, with Kate asking Narcisio Saqui, brother of Julio, “Do you harvest them all year round?”

Narcisio took the couple out of the blistering sun and sat them down under a marquee and told them about the anti-oxidants and other important properties of cocoa and the duke exclaimed: “Are you saying chocolate is good for us?”

Who doesn’t love a chocolate fountain? Richard Palmer of The Express shared a video. 

The BBC reports “The couple later got to taste of the farm’s goods as they dipped tortilla chips into chocolate fountains, and tried hot chocolate made from organic products.”

From the farm, the royals then traveled to the beachfront village of Hopkins.

A video from People’s Simon Perry. 

Hopkins is considered to be the cultural center of the Garifuna community in Belize.

The duo did a walkabout, chatting with residents.

More about the community from this Everyday Culture piece. 

Common heritage and language, rather than geographical boundaries, unite the Garifuna people of Central America. They are the descendants of Africans who escaped slavery in the seventeenth century and intermarried with Caribs living in the eastern Caribbean Island area. Garifuna (ga-RIF-una) refers to the people and the language they speak. Garinagu (ga-REEN-a-goo) is the plural form preferred by these people, whose ancestors settled in the countries of Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.

And from Afar.com: 

An estimated 17,000 Garifuna people, or Garinagu, reside in Belize today; they comprise just 6 percent of the population. (More live in Honduras, Nicaragua, and the United States.) Despite… a 2001 proclamation from UNESCO declaring the Garifuna language, dance, and music masterpieces of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the culture is woefully endangered. 

The royals saw a cooking demonstration. 

Another view of the couple. 

I think the Duchess made a new friend. 

They listened to music and also did some dancing. 

Prince William on the dance floor. 

More from The Mirror’s coverage. 

And it wasn’t long before Wills began dancing with local organiser Laura Cacho, 57. They were soon holding hands and gyrating to the music as locals screamed in delight.

She said afterwards: “That was so exciting. A dream come true.

“It was fun he was a good dancer and I told him he got the Garifuna culture in him.

Here is a video of the Duke dancing. 

A smile from the Duke.

The Duchess danced with local schoolchildren.   

More from this People article. 

Vkeveen Martinez, 15, one of the teens from the Light of Hopkins dance group who tempted the couple onto the floor, adds, “It was amazing. It was a lot to get a prince out to dance, and I held his hand.”

Martinez even asked William what it was like living in a castle.

“He said ‘it’s tricky — my grandmother lives there,’ ” she shares.

And Kate told her that “she wants dance classes.”

A video from Richard Palmer. 

Everyone seemed to have a rollicking good time at this engagement. 

The Duchess meeting a baby. 

And receiving a lovely posey.

The Duke and Duchess planted a Copper Pod tree to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. 

They also went for a walk on the beach. We now take a look at what Kate wore.

Her smocked, tiered dress is by Tory Burch. 

The piece is a blend of cotton/nylon/elastane, with a squared neckline front and back, puffed sleeves, smocking, and a tiered skirt.  It was still available at Farfetch ($525) as I published the post.  Rent the Runway also offers the dress ($70 for four days). Thank you to Middleton Maven for this ID. UPDATE MAR 21: With thanks to Bonnie and others for their comments, the dress is shirred not smocked.  As has been pointed out, smocking involves decorative embroidery, which shirring does not.  Here you see the Tory Burch bodice alongside the bodice of a child’s dress at Boden.  

The Duchess wore a fun pair of earrings by Sézane, the label’s Charlie style ($70).  They showcase resin beads covered in thread and have brass hardware.   

Thank you to Royal Family 93 on Twitter for this ID. 

Two accessories we’ve not seen for some time reappeared today.  Below, the Stuart Weitzman ‘Minx’ espadrille wedges.

The last time I show the Duchess wearing the shoes was in 2014 during the Australia tour. 

There was a change of shoes for today’s beach walk. 

It looks like the Duchess wore a pair of espadrilles by Stella McCartney, with thanks to Heaven for the ID.  The ‘Hestia’ (now sold out) are woven of raffia and feature a jute toe cap and attached ankle bracelet that is removable. 

The Duchess also carried her Anya Hindmarch ‘Fan’ clutch. 

The last time I recall the bag being carried was at Wimbledon in July 2014.

It looked like the Duchess brought back her Ray-Ban ‘Youngster’ sunglasses ($151). UPDATE MAR 21: The Duchess was likely wearing the Ray-Ban ‘Chris’ style ($155), not the Youngster. Below you see the Duchess and product photos showing the Chris style (top) and Youngster (bottom). 

There is a third engagement on the schedule, but I don’t know yet if it involves a change of clothes. If it does, and there are photos, I will cover it in a second post. UPDATE: The third engagement was on the beach at Hopkins; there was no change in what Kate wore.

The couple met with conservationists to learn more about our leadership in marine conservation. 

Here is one more photo from today.

A quick note on comments: please be respectful when discussing what the Duchess is wearing.  This is also applicable to comments about the Duke. While this isn’t What William Wore, I have no problem with the occasional comment, but we need to be respectful of him as well.   

VIDEO: 

A video from Kensington Palace. 

The Royal Family Channel has almost four minutes covering the cacao farm visit.  

This video from the Royal Family Channel covers the Hopkins portion of the day.

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BethE

Thursday 24th of March 2022

In the heat of the tropics, I cannot help but reflect on the obvious intentional preparation Catherine puts into her tours. These same types of activities in India found her long-sleeve, ankle-length dresses - also with lively colors, fun patterns, and light fabrics. But an obvious consideration to local cultural sensibilities. The difference in setting here has produced a different type of breezy ensemble. This Tory Burch is delightfully cheerful and very on-trend. And I wholeheartedly endorse the return of the quirky clutch and erstwhile-wardrobe-staple wedges.

shannon

Wednesday 23rd of March 2022

This is a cute light but appropriate outfit and i LOVE the earrings.

Amelie

Tuesday 22nd of March 2022

I really like this dress on her, appropriate for the setting and the activities they did. So far it's my favorite outfit of the tour for now. I don't usually love tiered flouncy dresses like this but this one is more structured and I love the blue pattern. The long dangly blue earrings are really fun too and not usually something Kate wears either. I also don't mind these wedges, I know some people absolutely hate the wedges but I think they go well with the dress. I know she wore the espadrilles to walk on the beach but I personally have tried them on before and I didn't really like them on my feet. They don't go with the dress but for just being on the beach they're fine.

I do think it's interesting that they had to switch gears for their first official full day due to the disputes surrounding the land of the original cacao farm they were supposed to visit. I understand this blog is about Kate's fashion. However, this tour is intertwined with politics as many former British colonies in the Caribbean are opting to officially no longer recognize the Queen as their head of state (which is what Barbados recently elected to do). These kinds of tours are meant to highlight those countries' relationship with the UK (which, let's be honest, are rooted in colonialism). It'll be interesting to see what these countries opt to do in the future. I do think we will see some big changes given the Queen's age and the more "slimmed down" monarchy Charles has been implementing.

Larissa

Tuesday 22nd of March 2022

What a perfect look for a day of outdoor engagements in Belize. I am so happy to see the Minx wedges return – I get so nostalgic about that outfit in Australia with the Zimmermann dress, so it is nice to have a nod to that time in Sunday's look. The pattern and colours of the dress are fun and bold, making Kate easy to spot, and I can even forgive the length as it is well offset by the neckline. I can't decide if I like or dislike the top of the dress overall though; in some images the neckline feels too boxy in combination with the shirring, and it others it seems a good choice for being photographed at all angles while avoiding any wardrobe malfunctions. Something about the bag seems a bit off to me – the colours seem to match fine but maybe the pattern is a bit conflicting? I'll let it slide in any case as it is another blast from the past that I like.

It's so nice to see William and Kate having fun at these engagements. I remember going to a cocoa farm on St. Lucia when I was younger. It was a very interesting tour, but the chocolate fountains were lacking!

Christa

Tuesday 22nd of March 2022

I love all of this! Anyone else stunned that she didn't remove the ankle bracelet?! I love the look but it is so unexpected!!

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