Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge did some fun work last night. They joined the Queen for a reception at Buckingham Palace. The reception was for Team GB’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Obviously, Harry was in his element – @KensingtonRoyal posted photos and videos and inevitably, Harry found himself surrounded by ladies and he looked like he was enjoying himself.
As for Kate, she wore this Alexander McQueen dress. At first, I only saw it from the hips up and I thought it was a full-on gown, and I was going to applaud her for choosing something with such a ‘70s boho vibe. But it’s not a full-length gown – this dress is tea length, which makes the vibe less boho and more “fussy and dowdy.” The print on the dress is poppies, which is patriotic. Kate also mentioned her children to all of the athletes (that’s what it feels like) as many of the athletes dutifully mentioned to the Daily Mail and other outlets that Kate kept telling them that Charlotte is keen on horses and riding and George is keen on fencing and swimming. Charlotte’s pretty little to be on a horse, right? I suppose she’s just sauntering about on a supervised pony, but still.
Incidentally, I didn’t get around to talking about Ephraim Hardcastle’s story about Kate’s Netherlands trip – Hardcastle reported last week that the royal courtiers “hope” that Kate will begin to go on more solo trips and events now, and that Kate is finally “more relaxed about accepting a public royal role.” Not relaxed about doing the work, relaxed about ACCEPTING a public role. Hardcastle also wrote: “Previously attempts to involve her – even when initiated by the Queen – were resisted.” As in, the Queen told Kate to do more work and Kate refused to do what the Queen asked her to do?
Look at Harry with these Olympic ladies! Somebody’s going to get pregnant with a ginger Olympian.
Prince Harry joins the #GBHeroesLDN celebrations with the Women's @_GBHockey Gold Medallists🎖at Buckingham Palace pic.twitter.com/2mMhI0CR8P
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) October 18, 2016
This is a better full-length look at Kate’s dress.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry welcome the @TeamGB and @ParalympicsGB medallists to Buckingham Palace! #GBHeroesLDN pic.twitter.com/XFKUlojyRT
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) October 18, 2016
Photos courtesy of @KensingtonRoyal, Getty, Press Association.
Dowdy
Times one thousand.
I think she looks lovely and appropriate.
Brandy, have you not witnessed her dozen+ flashing incidents, maternity miniskirts, low cut tops flashing her bra at kids, slits all the way up there? Modesty is not her byword.
Flashing the world at a memorial in India this year is not the sign of a modest person. And considering it is not the first time this happened she is either really dumb or an exhibitionist. No other woman in a public setting has had that many flashing incidents without figuring out that floaty skirts don’t work in the wind. And in Canada at a children’s party she wore a dress that but for a slip added would have been another flashing incident due to her squatting so much with that dress.
well, she is future queen. also, she did the PH/KK route when she was on a break with Wills.
She needs a new stylists. She always looks unfinished. Her eyeliner is too heavy, her hair looks too casual and that dress is beautiful, but it is not for her. If you want to look good, dress your body type. Just look at Queen Letizia of Spain, she is skinny, narrow hips (like KM), yet she always looks polished.
@milla
Amazingly Queen Letitia looks polished, classy and regal and somehow manages to do her job while on a strict budget. All the while, Kate seems to need bribing with expensive bespoke clothes in order to do her job and even then, she often looks dowdy, boring or uninterested while regularly flashing someone. I’d love to see more posts on Queen Letitia or other European Royals as Kate is a lost cause despite her pampered lifestyle.
Burton has ruined the Alexander McQueen fashion line, imo She has made it dull. Mr .McQueen was creative, extraordinary in designs,
I didn’t like the wedding dress. I don’t like this dress and many things Kate has worn are just so basic. She has very little style, unless you count dull as a style.
Ugly dress, ugly print, waist too high, length too long: a cheap dress from the 1970’s. Bad posture of the wearer doesn’t help. This was nearly 3,000 pounds of utter and complete ugliness. Obscene waste of money.
It’s her posture that makes things look dowdy. That aside this dress is weird…the length perhaps is what is throwing me off
It’s a project runway dress
Perhaps the designers that didn’t make the final 16.
Kenya you nailed it! That is exactly what it is, – Project Runway dress. One that got the designer kicked off the show that week.
It looks like she had a Scarlett O’Hara moment and made a dress out of the curtains. At least she’s not wearing nude shoes I guess.
I think we should all Just give up the hope that she will come Out of her shell to dazzle us with her wardrobe and work ethic.
That dress would have been much better floor length and maybe a funky cut sleeve and her hair out of her face.
No one develops a new personality at 34. She did nothing of note in the ten years she waited for a ring and does only what she must now, and seems to be bribed with new outfits every time. 34 is well into being an adult and not a child. There are no more excuses. She is just lazy and always will be. Only a direct threat to her luxurious taxpayer paid lifestyle will cause her to drastically change and no real threat has been made.
Well I do not think it was really her path or destiny in life to be a royal. She wanted it but it won’t be fulfilling in the long run. I don’t even see her and William even being King and Queen in the future.
I agree with kitty, I too don’t see a King William! Infact I think William would be quite happy toddling off to Middleton Inc. every morning then going home to wifey & kids at night ( mother Middleton won’t be happy with that ). As for Clotheshorse Kate, her status has obviously gone to her head, perhaps she thinks the Monarchy can’t survive without her. Shame she’s not got her late mother-in-laws work ethic! Long live King Harry!!!!! By the way that dress cost nearly 2 grand!
@Poppy, the thing is the monarchy I fear will not survive after The Queen passes and I think Harry can stop that. He is dentined for something greater.
The work on the seams is terrible- the two sides don’t match! She needs a better seamstress, usually her McQueen stuff is on point but this one is bad. It’s so dowdy.
I think Kate butchers all of her BURTON-McQueen stuff, which is never anything to write home about to start with. Around this time last year, Kate’s dirty-dishwater dressing gown at the Spectre premiere, followed swiftly by that Erdem atrocity were probably the last occasions that I’ve said boo about Kate’s clothing to talk about that alone. And I try to avoid discussing McQueen, ‘cuz it gets my blood pressure up. But I just couldn’t let this one go. Because in this case, I think they just sent Kate the fabric and she had this dress made. It’s a completely different dress. Here’s the original, that’s $3,075 *eye twitch* http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/main/ProductDetail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374306418048&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524447036334&R=889261238540&P_name=Alexander+McQueen&N=4294912153+306418048+399545540&bmUID=lvs4dQ8 Obviously the upper portion would have to have been created from scratch. But I was looking at how Kate’s dress is hanging differently. It doesn’t have those soft waves at the bottom. Then I noticed that the seams are completely different! Whoever made this literally just tacked two pieces of fabric together. The original creates this kind of inkblot motif in the back. Kate’s doesn’t have that, and has made no effort to disguise the seams or be less obtrusive in disrupting the fabric design. It’s truly awful.
Btw, completely off-topic, But I’m this Amber http://www.celebitchy.com/487098/duchess_kate_was_keen_in_green_catherine_walker_at_the_chelsea_flower_show/#comment-15056707 or this Amber, http://www.celebitchy.com/482512/sarah_burton_is_being_sued_over_the_duchess_of_cambridges_wedding_gown/#comment-15021823
Not this Amber http://www.celebitchy.com/508260/duchess_kate_in_an_erdem_resort_coat_in_manchester_fug_dated_or_fine/#comment-15244535 If my name twin is around, we need to chat 😀
Oh wow, the original dress does look different! Great question, do they give her more material for sleeves, tweeking for her taste? But why even wear this material and say its a Burton-McQueen, why not simply have a complete bespoke dress?
This isn’t the first and won’t be the last designer dress she butchers with her ‘alterations’. If Lee was still alive she would not be allowed anywhere near his clothes – he famously banned Victoria Beckham from his stores.
That’s what I noticed too. For such an obscenely expensive dress, you’d think they make to effort to match the pattern. It makes it look so cheap.
OT, her wiglet is so glaringly obvious in these photos and, of course, Kate’s posture is that of a 90-year-old woman. She continues to be such a disappointment.
I’ve been remarking on the lack of matching patterns at the seams for some time now. I know it can be a pain in the azz to do that, but it should be a matter of course for a bespoke dress, no?
That poppy pattern looks like someone copied a JPG several times and got a lot of image degradation around it before printing it on the fabric.
But she did manage to match the carpet
Don’t care about Kate. Just happy to see Ellie Simmonds rocking her look.
I agree, I think she looks lovely here. Is that the GB uniform? It looks like another woman is wearing the same skirt.
Just happy to see Ellie Simmonds and all the other amazing athletes, unfortunately Kate decided to wear the highest pair of heeled shoes in her wardrobe so everyone including the Queen would have to crane their neck to talk to her.
She’s crotch clutching even while having a conversation–so odd.
What drives me nuts about her crotch clutching, is that it seems to be catching. People around her are also now protecting their genitals in the same way that people yawn around a yawner. It just makes all of her encounters that much more awkward.
Makes you wonder if there’s a Trump in their world, too.
What other celebs have you noticed?
It reminds me of leakage spots when your period is heavy.
Ewwww! And now i can’t unseen it.
I almost fell off my chair laughing at this!!!
My first thought. And not a nice one!
Pretty dress. Her awful posture and basic basicness ruin it
I doubt she’ll become ‘keen’ to develop a better work ethic……..If it were going to happen, it would have by now.
This dress is one of her worst. Hopefully we’ll never see it again.
I have given up that she will have a strong work ethic. She would have it by now. I don’t have hopes for the monarchy after The Queen passes with Charles, William and Kate. I have hopes for Harry to save it somehow.
@Nic919, that does make sense and shows The Queen does not have much faith in her.
So since she’s done a solo trip, I wonder if she’ll finally receive a royal order this year…the queen certainly hasn’t just handed one over to her, she seems to be making Kate somewhat “work” for it.
Oh yeah I do wonder why The Queen hasn’t given her a Royal Order yet. Maybe she does not see Kate worthy enough?
She hasn’t done anywhere near the amount of work Diana did in her first five years of marriage (Diana also had two kids at this point). The Queen and Phillip are tripling the numbers Will and Kate do and they are elderly. Perhaps the Queen and her strong sense of duty isn’t one to give honours just for merely existing within the Royal Family. Awarding Kate at this point would diminish the meaning of the Order altogether.
I think it’s awesomely 70s. It would have been better as a maxidress, but I give her points for shaking it up and doing ANYTHING interesting! Plus you’re right, poppies are super-patriotic. I’d wear that for Armistice Day (but probably change up the length). Hey, no Marilyn moments, right?
The shape of the dress is elegant but I hate the print. (In the first pic, I don’t know if that’s Princess Anne in the background rockin’ the black pantsuit holding a glass of wine but girl looks good!)
Yes it’s Princess Anne looking very relaxed!
It’s her! Talking horse-riding and/or sporting events so no wonder she looks so happy. 🙂 It must’ve been disappointing when Zara didn’t make the 2016 Olympics. (She won silver in 2012; Zara’s father Mark has won gold and silver; Anne herself competed in the ’76 Olympics–the first British royal to do so though many European royals have)
HK9 I also wondered if that was Anne! It’s the most relaxed I’ve ever seen her 🙂
Yay for Princess Anne with her black pantsuit and wine glass!
I swear my Nan used to have a plastic table cloth that looked exactly like that, we used it for ‘picnics’ in her back garden. Now I just want some fairy cakes, a cup of Tea and a small teddy bear called Mr Bosun who had one ear falling off and that we lost moving house when I was seven – (sob).
Sorry for your loss, @ frisbee. RIP Mr Bosun. I remember a doll I had as a child, she had mangy, stringy, blonde hair and a chewed off nose (I confess, I did the chewing), and her name was Dotty. I loved her, but she disappeared mysteriously, and I was heartbroken. The mystery was never solved, but maybe the Mater had something to do with it. I will never forget my dear, departed Dotty.
RIP Dotty for you to. I think what happens is they get a bit too manky and well meaning mum/Mater plonks them in the ‘great bin in the sky’ – and then lives with that guilty secret for the rest of their lives…
Dowdy dress. Huge hair. Dated look.
The look is just awful!
I’m not a little person so I don’t know the general feeling about this but I would find it a bit awkward if another adult squatted down to the ground to have a conversation with me – as if I were a toddler. Maybe I’m wrong but what Harry’s doing looks off to me.
I believe he was going in for hug. Otherwise, I find it weird, too.
He did hug her and she showed off her medal. Difficult to do if he was standing. He does this with people in wheelchairs and those who cannot stand up to greet him (injured service men and women, elderly), getting down close where they can converse more readily.
Isn’t it sad that William and Kate didn’t kneel down to talk to Ellie while Harry did?
It’s so obvious that Harry is a natural with this and really cares about the people he’s greeting. Kate’s doing a mighty fine Loretta Lynn circa 1970s impression, but the fake hair and smile really leave me cold. The dress is a monstrosity and it is wearing her. Bill seems to be babysitting Waitybot to make sure she doesn’t malfunction.
Harry is such a natural at his job. Love Harry.
Bill *does* always look like he has one eye on her – even if he is in the middle of a conversation with other people – as if he’s just waiting for her next gaffe.
It looks too much like a nightgown. I think it would have worked with a fuller skirt.
Kate is not a fashion icon. that’s all i can say
I barely need to look at pics to vote on this one. Dowdy. Almost always dowdy.
It is a bit dowdy but then again she always ruins a great pattern with a dowdy/housewife style and that hair.
As for her work ethic – she’ll never develop one.
I think it’s really nice that the Queen had a big reception for the Olympic athletes. And she rocked the hell out of that alligator print dress.
I would have liked it much more without the mint green satin waistband.
Ruined McQueen, both of them. (Pre-2010 McQueen remains awesome.)
WTF?
Of course, Kate couldn’t hold a wine glass – people might think she drinks! Also, it might be too challenging to walk, talk and grin whilst holding a clutch AS WELL. Meanwhile Princess Ann handles herself and wine glass with aplomb!
The Daily Mail has pics of her with a wine glass. Although she appears to be drinking water.
Simply here to honk for Harry. Honk,Honk!
No matter what she wears, she always looks the same … safe, appropriate, forgettable.
It just shows she has no charisma and glamour and everything else to be a style/fashion icon like Diana was.
Definitely dowdy. It reminds me of a duvet cover. The style of the dress does nothing for her bony figure and the length makes it look even more weird. If this is what a Mcqueen dress looks like then I’m glad I don’t have the money to buy one.
Interesting to see that the Dolittles usually turn up to events with the queen and go throw the motions of feigning interest. I don’t remember them turning up to support Charles with his work even though he pays for their pampered lifestyle.
Good god this is an ugly dress! It reminds me of a nightgown my elderly mother would wear – on Christmas morning 😑
And doesn’t Kate already have a red, poppy-themed, evening-reception-appropriate Beulah dress? She wore it on one of the tours, I think? (Bhutan?) But no, she spends £3000+ on this monstrosity.
Re: Charlotte, I saw someone else get slammed on another board when they mentioned it seemed ridiculous for Kate to say a 17-month-old was passionate about horseback riding.
That’s how I read it, too, just like Kaiser did; that it was absurd, just as inane as it was when she said the other day that Charlotte is a “better footballer than George” or whatever, but this person had Kate fans coming out of the woodwork to tell all about how *they* were passionately riding horses at that age, too. 🙄
Bottom line is she desperately needs a new stylist. This is getting ridiculous.
Who even has memories going back to that age? I’m sure there might be pictures of toddlers on horses and those kids probably are smiling, since that’s the picture their parents wanted, but really? Next we’ll hear that George is working on his first novel and Charlotte is weaving a tapestry for the nursery.
I like the dress! It does have a 70’s vibe, especially the print, but I like that she’s dressing more serious instead of frivolous. Now that she’s doing more “work” maybe she’ll get the fashion part figured out.
It looks like a house coat to me.
I’m formally voting for the next to last pic as a second option for thumbnails.
I love the fourth picture down remarkable how she manages to find the camera when talking
Wine was served at the reception? I would’ve guessed Princess Anne doesn’t drink.
I looked at the DM photos and it would seem W&K were drinking water …. hmm, trying for baby number three perhaps?
Well since her only skill in life appears to be getting pregnant and giving birth to healthy babies, if I were her I’d have 7 to seal my position in the royal family!
Having children did not secure positions for Diana, Sarah, or even Mark Phillips or Armstrong-Jones. Why would it secure a position for Kate Middleton?
I wouldn’t be shocked if William divorces her around the ten year mark, especially if he needs to rehabilitate the image of the monarchy. She is no Diana with a long history of helping charities and barely speaks in public. She is an easily replaceable mannequin at this point.
She almost always looks deranged.