Kate Middleton is known for reaching into her closet to rewear old favorites, but the Princess of Wales took that to another level with a jacket she first wore nearly two decades ago while dating Prince William.
The royal couple, who will celebrate their 14th anniversary in April, traveled to South Wales on February 26, 2025, to meet with people whose lives had been upended by severe storms that ravaged the region late last year.
While Kate arrived in a vividly hued red coat — wearing a color from the Welsh flag in her signature tradition — she later changed into a brown tweed jacket she was first spotted wearing back in 2007, according to People.
That was three years before she and Wills announced their engagement, and four years before their wedding at Westminster Abbey in 2011.
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For the earlier outing, the Cheltenham Horse Racing Festival on March 13, 2007, the future Princess of Wales paired the jacket with a matching skirt and brown boots. This week, Kate wore the jacket with a dark brown turtleneck, pleated midi-skirt and a similar style of knee-high boots.
After arriving by train in Cardiff, the royal couple made their way to Pontypridd, about 12 miles northwest, for a visit ahead of St. David’s Day, which celebrates the patron saint of Wales on March 1.
They then stopped at Pontypridd Market, a community hub since 1805, where they pitched in at The Welsh Cake Shop to help make a batch of traditional Welsh cakes. They also visited a community garden, speaking with volunteers about ongoing recovery efforts in the wake of the storms.
It was Kate’s first public outing since Kensington Palace announced it would no longer release the details of her outfits for every single engagement, so as to keep the focus on Kate’s work rather than on what she’s wearing.
It was sharp-eyed fans, like those behind the What Kate Wore website, who sussed out the jacket’s origin.
—Theresa Braine, New York Daily News (TNS)
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