Rumour has it that Kate Middleton will be present and correct at this year’s BAFTAs, although Kensington Palace has yet to formally confirm her presence at Royal Festival Hall on the night. If the Princess of Wales does make her red carpet return, expect her look to be a relatively subdued one (and, most likely, a repeat wear) given her recent push to shift the public’s focus from her clothes to her work. The senior royal has, after all, been recycling gowns at black-tie events for years. Ahead of the ceremony on February 16, revisit all of her BAFTA appearances so far, below.
2023
For her most recent appearance at the BAFTAs, the Princess of Wales recycled her Alexander McQueen gown from the 2019 ceremony, pairing it with elbow-length gloves, an added chiffon sleeve, and a pair of Zara earrings. 2023 was a significant year for the awards, with the ceremony held at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall for the first time. However, changes to the show format were overshadowed by a lack of progress regarding diversity on the night.
2020
The academy provided all guests at the 2020 BAFTAs—one of the last major events before the pandemic sent the world into lockdown—with a sustainable dressing guide courtesy of the London College of Fashion. The Duchess of Cambridge acknowledged the theme by dipping into her Alexander McQueen archive, choosing to rewear a dress from her 2012 tour of Southeast Asia in honor of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. A custom design by Sarah Burton, its cream fabric is overlaid with a hibiscus flower print—a nod to Malaysia’s national flower, as Kate first wore the dress to meet the country’s own royal family. In terms of jewelry, the Duchess selected a mother-of-pearl necklace and earrings from Van Cleef Arpels’s Magic Alhambra collection for the night.
2019
For the 2019 BAFTAs, the Duchess of Cambridge selected a one-shouldered Alexander McQueen gown with floral embellishments. She had appeared in a similar dress in a rose colorway for the then Prince of Wales’s 70th birthday a few months earlier. It’s her jewelry, however, that predictably garnered headlines. Kate chose a pair of drop earrings inherited from Diana, Princess of Wales, featuring diamonds and South Sea pearls. Poignantly, the late royal wore the jewels to her last official engagement—a performance of Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall in 1997.
2018
The 2018 BAFTAs will be remembered as a watershed moment in the Me Too movement, with Sisters Uncut storming the red carpet to protest the terms of then Prime Minister Theresa May’s domestic violence and abuse bill. While the vast majority of female attendees wore black in a nod to Time’s Up, the Duchess of Cambridge opted for a politically neutral flowing dark-green gown by Jenny Packham, with a black sash tied above her pregnancy bump. She then accessorized her dress with a suite of emerald jewelry—emeralds being associated with hope and renewal, as well as the suffragette movement.
2017
For her 2017 BAFTAs debut, the Duchess of Cambridge turned again to Alexander McQueen, wearing a tiered off-the-shoulder gown embroidered with pale flowers—a custom take on a look from the brand’s spring 2016 resort collection—with diamond chandelier earrings. Kate later wore a variation on the same dress to an event at the National Portrait Gallery.