A mini royal drama occurred when a spokesperson for the Princess of Wales told the Sunday Times earlier this month that Kensington Palace would no longer be sharing details about her outfits to the media. “She wants the focus to be on the really important issues, the people and the causes she is spotlighting,” a source said at the time. “There will always be an appreciation of what the Princess is wearing from some of the public and she gets that. But do we need to be officially always saying what she is wearing? No.”
The story caused such a stir that the Palace later backtracked, clarifying to People that the comments were not from Kate herself, and that “there has been no change in our approach to sharing information about Her Royal Highness’s clothing.” After all, as Vogue’s Elise Taylor pointed out, the Princess has often used her clothes to send a message, not to mention the impact that her outfit choices have on British fashion brands, both big and small.
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Still, the original story does shed light on Kate’s approach to dressing right now, following a difficult 12 months that has seen her undergo chemotherapy for cancer. Today, for a visit to Pontypridd, Wales, ahead of St David’s Day, the Princess opted for a double-breasted red coat by Alexander McQueen—red for the Welsh dragon, naturally—that was very familiar to royal watchers, considering that she has worn it at least four times before. The most recent outing was at her Together at Christmas carol service in December, when she teamed her go-to outerwear with a tartan skirt and a black bow to finish.
While Kate has always repeated her outfits, the frequency with which she has been returning to her favorite staples seems to have increased of late (previously, we’d see her wearing the same coat or dress perhaps once or twice a year). Indeed, save for the giant daffodil on her lapel, the photographs from today could have been taken at almost any time within the past five years—which one imagines is precisely the point.