Duchess makes natty choice at the start of Pakistan tour
THE Duchess of Cambridge arrived in Pakistan with a nod to both her hosts and the memory of her mother-in-law, wearing a traditional shalwar-kameez-style outfit from one of Princess Diana’s favourite couture houses.
The Duke and Duchess landed amid tight security at an air base outside Islamabad to start a five-day visit to showcase the Commonwealth’s second most populous nation and strengthen ties with Britain.
The Duchess stepped down from their RAF Voyager plane in a blue Catherine Walker dress as she was met by Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister. Their flight from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire is understood to have been timed so they could do the school run before they left.
More than 1,000 Pakistani police will be deployed to watch over the couple in the coming days. Their stay is the first visit to Pakistan by members of the Royal family since 2006. The couple will meet both Imran Khan, the prime minister, and Arif Alvi, the president.
Britain hopes the visit will highlight ties with Pakistan, while Pakistan hopes to show the world it has left behind the violence that blighted the country earlier this decade.
The Duke is expected to say at a dinner today: “Pakistan is the world’s fifth largest country by population. It has a diverse geography that spans deserts to glaciers and everything in between. It is the birthplace of the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.
“We share unique bonds and so it will always be in our best interests for Pakistan to succeed. Not least because of the 1.5 million people living in the UK with Pakistani origin.”
Fashion watchers said the Duchess’s choice of dress appeared to show she would use her wardrobe to highlight ties between the country.
In 1991, Catherine Walker created a pale pink sarong-style gown for Princess Diana, which she wore when she attended a reception in Lahore.