News Briefs and The Princess of Wales’s Chelsea Flower Show Ensembles

I am back with a look at ensembles worn by the Princess of Wales to the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show. First, some brief updates, beginning with this week’s release of a significant report from the Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood. You may remember the task force launch back in March 2023. 

The Guardian notes in its story that the report “identifies five areas in which businesses can make the greatest impact for children under five, the adults around them, the economy and wider society.” More from this ITV story. 

The Princess is said to be grateful to the business leaders who published the report into how business can better help children from birth to five-years-old, and has been kept fully up to date with their progress.

“I know, having briefed The Princess on this, that she is enormously grateful to the members of the Taskforce who have made such fantastic progress on this work over the past year,” said Christian Guy, who runs The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood

Also this week, the Prince of Wales hosted a rather sodden garden party at Buckingham Palace on behalf of the King.

You can also see the Duke of Gloucester on the left, while the Duchess of Gloucester is behind Prince William. 

The Prince was joined by several of his cousins, including Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Peter Phillips, Zara Tindall, and her husband, Mike Tindall. Princess Beatrice was in a Beulah London dress, while Princess Eugenie wore a design by Ulla Johnson.

Zara Tindall wore the Isobel dress (£1500) by Laura Green London and a hat by Sarah Cant Millinery. Many of you will recognize her heels and handbag; they are styles we have seen the Princess of Wales wearing: Emmy London’s Rebecca Suede Heels ($600) in the ”makeup” colorway and the Natasha Clutch ($480) in the same color. Thank you to Royal Fashion Police for the fashion IDs.

As pointed out by Gert’s Royals, this is the first time the Tindalls and Peter Phillips have attended one of the monarch’s garden parties.

I wanted to include a look at Zara Tindall’s heels because I receive so many questions asking how one walks on grass in high heels. If you look closely, you can see that she is wearing heel guards.

This may provide a better view of the heel guards. 
Embed from Getty Images

I don’t recall seeing the Princess of Wales ever using the plastic protective devices, but have friends who swear by them. Below are two varieties: Solemates High Heel Protectors ($8.75) or Sole Guards ($9 for one set, $25 for a 3-pack). The guards are also available in different colors, like black. 

Earlier this week, the King and Queen visited the Chelsea Flower Show. 

🌺 The King and Queen visited #RHSChelsea yesterday, where they toured some of the many gardens and displays on show.

🌳 Highlights of this year’s show include the ‘No Adults Allowed’ Garden, designed by children from Sulivan Primary School – the first time a garden designed by… pic.twitter.com/I3IDCfou74

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 21, 2024

The King is also now the official patron of the Royal Horticultural Society, which puts on the show. The event reminded me of visits to the show by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I thought it would be fun to look back at the ensembles worn for the event by the then-Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess of Wales. We begin with the green Catherine Walker design worn by the Duchess to the 2016 show.  

Among the 2016 displays, a field of 320,000+ individually crocheted poppies. 

An oft-raised question here (and in many fashion blogs about celebrities) involves the Duchess’s handbags: “What does she have in there?” It appears one item she carried was a tissue or hankie; it’s possible she was dealing with allergies.

The Duchess was in a vibrant green Catherine Walker design first worn in 2014 during the Australia Tour (far right photo). 

She accessorized with pieces from LK Bennett, her Nina clutch (no longer available), and Fern heels ($281 on sale). 

When attending the 2017 show, the Duchess chose a silk dress by French fashion house Rochas.

This was a new label for the Duchess. The midi-length dress was crafted of silk crêpe de chine in a floral print. It featured a fitted waist and flared skirt, side slit pockets, exposed back zipper, and silk lining.

The Duchess wore either her Fern or Floret heels by LK Bennett. She did not carry a handbag but did wear her Monica Vinader Siren Earrings in green onyx ($178 at Monica Vinader).

In 2019, we saw the Duchess in multiple outfits as she co-designed an exhibit for the show. The RHS Back to Nature garden project was designed to “showcase the benefits of the natural world and trigger memories of times people have spent in nature…”. Below, the Duchess works on the garden installation with co-designers Andrée Davies and Adam White (of Davies White Landscape Architects).

Before the show opened, the Duke and Duchess took their three children to explore the garden. 

The children gave the garden a test run ahead of the show.

In these photos, the Duchess wore the Floral Ruffled Maxi Dress ($119, no longer available) by & Other Stories, a brand owned by H&M.

The Duchess wore the Polly Petal Earrings by Accessorize and the Carina wedge espadrilles ($141) by Castañer. 

The Duchess chose casual separates for the unveiling of the garden. 

Here you see the Duchess with Sir Nicholas Bacon, who was chairman of the RHS in 2019.

The ensemble included the Mabel cotton broderie anglaise shirt by MiH Jeans and a pair of linen/rayon culottes from Massimo Dutti.

This was the first time we saw the Duchess wearing Massimo Dutti, a brand owned by Inditex, the parent company of Zara. The label has become one favored by the Princess of Wales. She was in her Superga Cotu Classic Sneakers ($70) and Monica Vinader Siren Earrings ($178 at Nordstrom). 

The Duchess changed into an Erdem dress for that afternoon’s official preview of the show. 

Here, you see her showing the garden to the late Queen.

The Erdem Sheba Floral Silk-Cotton Gown featured a high neck, tiered skirt, a hidden zipper, and a front ruffle. 

The dress also included accents of white crocheted lace and raw-edge ruffled trim.

In this montage, you can see the Duchess shortened her dress by several inches. 

Her hair was partially pulled back and braided.

Her earrings were the  Cassandra Goad Cavolfiore Studs (£5620, about $7100 at today’s exchange rates) and the Castañer espadrille wedges.

Our final ensemble features a dress by ME + EM. 

The dress was worn to last year’s show, where the Princess of Wales hosted the very first Children’s Picnic, part of the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. 

The ME + EM Color Block Silk Shirt Dress dress features a pleated front panel, point collar, gathered shoulders, side seam pockets, self-belt, and an asymmetrical hem that is longer in the back.

It was first worn when the Duchess of Cambridge met 5-year-old Mila Sneddon at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in May 2021. 

The Princess accessorized with her Catherine Zoraida Fern Drop Earrings ($220) and the Castañer wedges shown above. 

All good wishes to those marking the Memorial Day Weekend. We will wrap up our One-Hit Wonder series next week.