Meghan and Camilla show a touch of class in not trooping the colour
“Ihave to be seen to be believed,” the Queen has famously noted about her wardrobe full of neon coats. The same could be said for the Duchess of Sussex, who hasn’t attended an official event in the United Kingdom since her dramatic interview with Oprah a year ago. Although, if anyone was waiting for Meghan’s return to British soil to be a bejewelled, over-the-top affair, then they would have been disappointed by her sleek, off-white coat, her discreet hat and gloves, and her white pumps.
Not that Meghan went exactly under the radar with her choices for the Thanksgiving Service at St Paul’s, as her entire outfit from her hat down to her heels were Dior haute couture in a colour the brand describes as “greige”. Collared, belted and falling just below the knee, her coat alone must have cost thousands – and yet it was undeniably understated, and made even more so by her unadorned hat by Stephen Jones and her neat bun. This was French status-dressing at its best – major label, muted colours – and the contrast between Meghan and some of the more minor royals in their bubblegum pinks and tangerine oranges was stark.
It was a very clever move. Had she worn scarlet like Carrie Johnson or hot pink like Zara Tindall and Priti Patel, the Duchess of Sussex might have been accused of drawing attention to herself on a day that was all about the Queen. Not that this was ever necessary – Meghan doesn’t need to resort to peacock dressing, all eyes were already on her and Prince Harry.
Her jewellery was also all her own: no longer able to borrow the Queen’s pieces with as much ease as she did before, she opted for a pair of snowflake snowstorm diamond earrings from Canadian brand Birks, which cost £11,000 to buy, and are believed to have been a wedding gift, and a Cartier Love bracelet that retails at £5,950.
Playing a similar stealth-status game was the Duchess of Cornwall who – when the flurry of politicians and royals in their rainbow brights had already sat down – arrived in an ivory-coloured Fiona Clare coat and a Philip Treacy hat. Clare is her longtime couturier and has worked happily with the Duchess for well over two decades, dressing her for state dinners as well as more casual daytime engagements.
“Camilla and I have found our rhythm,” Clare said to me earlier this year.
“She has really found her style, and I think she’s looking amazing. She suddenly looks so confident – it just happened from one day to the next, a bit like it did for the Duchess of Cambridge – I think if you find a shape that works for you, it’s like finding a recipe you love: you just keep making it.”
This sentiment could certainly be applied to the Duchess of Cambridge at St Paul’s in her slim-fit buttery yellow dress topped off with a beautiful rose-adored hat by Philip Treacy. The dress was by Emilia Wickstead, who is fast becoming the royal designer of choice. Very unusually for the royals, Princess Eugenie also wore a piece from her brand, in her case an orange calf-length dress.
Kate’s outfit was a thoughtful one in that it nodded to those who weren’t there. Her dress in particular was notably similar to the design the Queen wore to attend the Cambridges’ wedding in 2011. Kate also borrowed the Bahrain pearl drop earrings, which she was last seen wearing at the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in April 2021 – looking as dazzling with buttery yellow as they did with black, they feature two large pearls surrounded by diamonds in an Art Deco-style setting.
While blue had been the colour of choice for royal outfits at Trooping the Colour, yesterday it was pink, with Zara Tindall in Laura Green London with a Juliette Millinery hat, Emmy London heels and an Aspinal bag.
Lady Frederick Windsor – aka Peep Show’s Sophie Winkleman – was in a deeper pink, while Lady Gabriella Kingston and the Countess of Wessex opted for a blush shade. Lady Louise Windsor, 18, wore a dress by British high street favourite Ghost, which (meaning she stuck to the colour theme of the day) she paired with a sequined pink headband by JT Millinery. The popularity of the colour was possibly in homage to the Queen, who wore pale pink to the church service for her Silver Jubilee in 1977.
Carrie Johnson clearly didn’t get the memo and was one of the few guests in scarlet at St Paul’s. Her very flattering dress was from Sandro, her shoes were from Dune London and her hat was by milliner AJ Gretton.
Interestingly, nearly all the pieces the guests of honour wore yesterday were new, in contrast to Thursday’s event, which featured a number of re-wears, including Mrs Johnson in a hot pink & Other Stories dress she was first photographed in at a Conservative Party conference in 2019.
Steering clear of pink were also Theresa May, who wore a teal coat with a fashionable blue tie around the waist and a matching blue hat, and Princess Anne in a similar colour. Princess Beatrice wore society favourite Beulah London’s Ahana dress in blue, which has a fit-and-flare silhouette similar to the Duchess of Cambridge’s and costs £775.
Perhaps the only dud note across two days of top-notch fashion came from David Cameron, who opted for a somewhat crumpled blue shirt. “A checked shirt is an informal choice for such a high-profile occasion,” says Stephen Doig, The Telegraph’s men’s style editor. “It’s not that it’s overtly casual, just that blue checked shirts are the attire of the City, not ceremonies as full of pomp and ceremony as this one – it’s like he’s trying to show a ‘man of the people’ ease that doesn’t work for these sorts of occasions.”
As it turns out, perhaps Cameron could have taken a few lessons on striking the right tone from the Duchess of Sussex.