Revealed: Kate’s secret weapon in style wars
SINCE Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, royal watchers have often remarked that her sister-in-law Kate is looking noticeably more glamorous. Now, I can reveal why.
The Duchess of Cambridge has secretly drafted in a talented stylist who has been advising her on her wardrobe.
Out go the stiff coat dresses and Home Counties lady look. In comes a more modern, sleek style, such as the £800 Gucci pussy-bow blouse and wide-legged trousers she wore for an engagement earlier this month.
Her new adviser is Virginia Chadwyck-Healey, an aristocratic 36-year-old former editor at Vogue magazine.
Known as Ginnie, she is an old friend of Prince William and Kate, and attended their wedding at Westminster Abbey in 2011.
‘ Ginnie is Catherine’s secret weapon,’ a royal source tells me. ‘She has made a big difference to the Duchess’s wardrobe for public engagements and has helped give her a whole new sense of confidence.
‘ Catherine has been really impressed and is very grateful for her help.’
Ginnie is the daughter of the 3rd Lord Strathalmond and has two daughters, Nancy, four, and Maggie, two, with her Old Etonian husband, Oliver Chadwyck-Healey.
Ginnie and Ollie were at St Andrews University with William and Kate, and both women studied history of art.
Natasha Archer, who usually helps Kate with her wardrobe, is presently on maternity leave.
Ginnie, who left Vogue in 2018 after 12 years, wrote about her experience at William and Kate’s wedding.
‘To my great surprise, I found myself included in the fashion reviews as one of the “best-dressed wedding guests”,’ boasted Ginnie, who wore an Emilia Wickstead watermelon pink skirt and a bubblegum pink trapeze- sleeve silk top.
‘Royal protocol had to come first, but I wanted to feel like I had an identity amid the sea of celebrities, friends, military personnel, foreign members of state and, of course, the Royal Family.’
But she added: ‘To my mother’s horror, I didn’t wear tights.’
How very daring.