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The Duchess in ‘Bubblegum Pink’ for Final Day of the Tour

The Duchess in ‘Bubblegum Pink’ for Final Day of the Tour

The Duchess chose a dress by RIXO for today’s engagements in Abaco, a group of several islands and archipelagos. A video as the royals arrived. 

The couple visited Daystar Evangelical Church, which suffered damage during Hurricane Dorian in 2019. Below, the church as it looks today.

They were there to hear first-hand what it was like for those on the island when the hurricane hit. Below, you see them with Pastor Silbert Mills.

From The Daily Mail’s story

Pastor Mills pointed to the place where one of the church’s historic buildings had once stood, explaining how it been completely destroyed.

‘But the facility was no match for hurricane Dorian. It was a Category Five monster storm that had waves crashing the roof of this building. The water was very much up to the ceiling in here.

‘It washed everything out and it just destroyed so much history that was here. The building that was here was built in 1952. It was a wooden building built out of Abaco pine, and we kept it here and remodelled it to maintain its historic values, but Dorian swept it off its foundation.’

Here is a photo shot about a week after Hurricane Dorian. 

The church building is still unusable. More from this Millport Weekly News story.

The duchess, wearing a pink Rixo dress, said: “The church is at the heart of the community when events like this happen.”

As they were told about the devastation caused, the duke said: “You must have been terrified.”

You can see the blown-out windows and big chunks of concrete that are missing or damaged.

ITV’s Chris Ship shared a video. 

The hurricane damaged 75% of homes.

We return to The Daily Mail piece.

PastorMills said some members of the community remained displaced, two-and-a-half years later.

‘It’s been difficult,’ he added. ‘And some people have been traumatised to the extent that they’re still seeing doctors.’

Pastor Mills said they did not have the insurance needed to rebuild and that the focus has been on helping those who had lost their homes.

The couple heard from residents about some of the ways they have coped since the hurricane. 

More than 2000 were killed by the hurricane, 200 of them from Abaco.

There was a short service of remembrance. Rebecca English shared a brief video. 

The Duke and Duchess laid a wreath at a memorial wall. 

A better view of the memorial. 

The Duchess gave this little guy a flower she found. 

The pair then went to a traditional fish fry in Dundas Town. 

The Duchess had a taste and said, “It’s lovely.”

More from this People story

The Duchess of Cambridge even stepped behind the counter to make conch salad herself as Jade Adderley, a vendor at the Fish Fry in Dundas Town, Abaco, looked on.

“I’m not as fast as you!” Kate told him.

Another image. 

The Evening Standard reports,

“They were offered conch salad. William said: ‘Ladies first,’ before Kate tried it and said: ‘Delicious’.  Mr Adderley said: ‘She was a good helper. I’d like her to stay and help me at the stall.’

William was offered a Gullywash – coconut juice with condensed milk. He seemed to enjoy it and joked: ‘You guys talk amongst yourself I’m staying here.”

I think the Duchess may be having a taste of the conch salad. 

The Duke and Duchess sharing a laugh.

Taking a selfie with a young man. 

They met local vendors. 

More from The Standard’s piece. 

They moved on to stalls by the beach where vendors were selling handbags and homemade honey.

While talking to stall owner Kimberly Roberts, 49, of Abaco Ceramics, William looked at the honey for sale in jars on the table then pointed to Kate and said: ‘Catherine has bees at home.’

And spent time meeting residents as well as those visiting the islands. 

The Duchess and some schoolgirls. 

A different angle. 

Another view. 

Meeting a very young one. 

One more image of the Duchess.

This looked like an engagement the duo enjoyed. 

After saying goodbye to Abaco, the couple traveled to Grand Bahama. 

 We now take a look at what Kate wore for the day’s early engagements. 

She was in the Izzy Dress ($290, now sold out) by RIXO, a popular UK brand.

The dress is one of the brand’s hand-painted prints in a pattern called pink marble zebra. It is made with FSC-certified viscose (Forest Stewardship Council “ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits) and features puffed sleeves with elastic at the cuff, a button front bodice, pleated skirt, and hidden side zipper. Thank you to Emily and Bojana for their speedy ID of the dress.   

RIXO was founded by friends and former fashion buyers Henrietta Rix and Orlagh McCloskey. The company describes its mission this way: “to offer irresistibly cool, obscurely beautiful clothing for work and pleasure, at a price point designed not to intimidate.”

The Duchess carried another Emmy London clutch, the Natasha ($370), this one in ‘cupcake pink.’

The bag is lined in suede, has an interior zip pocket, and fastens with a secure magnetic popper. It also comes with a suede and metal chain so it can be carried as a crossbody. Thank you to Middleton Maven for this ID. 

The Duches brought back her Castañer Carina 80 Suede Wedge Espadrilles ($189).

The style features a braided raffia wedge heel, almond toe, rubber sole, and ankle ties. It is available at Farfetch ($189) and at Net-a-Porter in a similar color ($190). 

We saw the return of the Maya earrings by Nadia Irena. (I have not yet heard back if this item will be restocked or not.)

And what appears to be a new style of sunglasses, the Henrietta Light Tortoise Green Lenses ($256) by Finlay.

Thank you to Lauren for this ID.  

UPDATE: Following are images from the final two engagements for the tour. 

The royals visited Grand Bahamas Children’s Home.

The home is located in Freeport. 

It was founded by the local community in 1977 and had since cared for more than 900 vulnerable children who are not able to live with their families. 

The Duchess making funny faces. 

The home is currently caring for about thirty children ages one to seventeen.  

The Duke and Duchess met children and then spoke with staff to hear how they have been coping with the pandemic.

Their final engagement of the tour was at Coral Vita, one of the winners of the Earthshot Prize.

Coral Vita is described as “A project run by two best friends who are growing coral in the Bahamas, designed to restore the world’s dying coral reefs. Using special tanks, they have developed a way to grow coral up to 50 times faster than they normally take in nature” per the BBC

I believe Prince William was going to personally plant some of the coral.  I will update with more photos when they are available.

VIDEOS

Here is roughly 1:30 coverage of the Abaco engagements. 

And the Duchess chatting with a vendor. 

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Julie R

Thursday 2nd of June 2022

Does anyone else notice that this dress is slightly see through? The DoC is usually so flawless I almost couldn’t believe it but sure enough, I see what looks to be a white tank underneath, surely someone could have told her to wear nude instead?

Then as others have said, I think this really could have benefited from a shorter hem, a nice blue color, and an accessory by a local designer.

Updates & Your Favorite Caribbean Tour Ensembles – Settlenet Books

Friday 6th of May 2022

[…] the final day of the tour, the Duchess selected the bubblegum pink Izzy Dress ($290, now sold out) by RIXO. Made with […]

Jack Bing

Friday 1st of April 2022

Thank you so much for your coverage of this tour, Susan, it's been a real treat and I feel like I've seen the Duchess in a whole prism of new colours!

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I feel like it used to be unusual to see the Duchess carrying a clutch in her earlier years and now she often carries them, especially for overseas engagements. Do you have any thoughts on why that might be?

admin

Friday 1st of April 2022

From the time of the wedding forward, I generally think of her as carrying clutches. If you are referencing the many other bags carrier before the wedding, my guess is they would be considered too "large" and "bulky" for official engagements. Once married, she did have staff to carry necessities for her, so that probably helped ease the transition. (JUst my guess.)

Patty

Tuesday 29th of March 2022

Though I'm not crazy about the dress, the swirling pattern is lovely and I think the fabric must've been refreshing as well. Frankly, I think she looks beautiful in just about everything she wears. I had a friend who nearly lost her life at Abaco during Hurricane Dorian so I'm grateful to the Cambridges for visiting and calling attention to the fact that the island is still rebuilding.

shannon

Tuesday 29th of March 2022

I love the soft colour and fabric of the dress but the style is too frumpy for me along with the wedges!The clutch and earrings are a cute touch.

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