Page Six: Princess Kate upcycled a Jenny Packham dress to ensure secrecy

CB covered the news last Friday, when the Princess of Wales announced her plans to attend Trooping the Colour. Kensington Palace published a new photo of Kate in the woods, a visual signifier that she is literally “not out of the woods,” health-wise. The Matt Porteous photo was widely criticized on Friday night for being yet another heavily edited pic coming out of the palace. That conversation sort of got overshadowed by Kate’s first public appearance in nearly six months, when she came out for Trooping. So… how did all of this go down behind-the-scenes? Page Six had an interesting story about why Kate made the choices she made:

Kate Middleton went so far as to rewear a dress from her closet in order to keep her return to the public eye a secret — while making contingency plans if she felt ill on the day, sources tell Page Six. The cancer-stricken Princess of Wales was keen to join her family at King Charles’ birthday celebration and Trooping the Colour parade this past Saturday. But there were only a few people kept in the loop. Kate personally called her father-in-law — who’s also being treated for cancer — to tell him the good news and he was “delighted” she could attend, the king’s spokesperson told Page Six.

Well aware that her appearance would cause a commotion around the globe, 42-year-old Kate — who had not made a public appearance since Christmas Day — quietly called upon royal photographer Matt Porteous for a top-secret shoot at home last week. Kate penned an extremely personal message to be issued alongside her latest photo, admitting there are “good days and bad days” and stressing that she is “not out of the woods yet.” Dressed down in jeans, a white T-shirt, brown blazer and sneakers, the princess was captured by Porteous soaking up the lush greenery of the Windsor estate close by her home, Adelaide Cottage.

Being outside gives her strength and “being connected to nature is something that continues to support her recovery,” a source told us. “She enjoys spending personal time on the things that give her energy and positivity.”

When it came to Kate’s outfit for the parade, she chose to “upcycle” a white dress she first wore on the eve of King Charles’ coronation last year, with her hair swept into an updo beneath a white hat by Philip Treacy. She accessorized the outfit with her Cassandra Goad Cavolfiore pearl studs — previously worn to Prince Louis’ christening in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2023 — and the Irish Guards Regimental brooch, nodding to her role as the regiment’s honorary colonel. The simple white and black dress by British designer Jenny Packham was updated with black trim and ribbon embellishment on the neckline, as well as a black belt. While repeating the dress made a sustainable fashion statement, it also served another purpose.

“Just by reworking what she already owns, it allowed Kate to keep this secret [of her appearance] within her very closest and most trusted team,” said Bethan Holt, Fashion Director at the UK Telegraph. Kate is still believed to be working with her longtime stylist Natasha Archer.

“We definitely know that Kate has tailors in house to help make something fit her perfectly, and they could have easily added the new belt and that bow detail at the neckline, so Jenny Packham may not have even known Kate was going to re-wear the dress,” said Holt. However, Holt added, Packham is one of Kate’s “most trusted” designers. She pointed out that Kate has worn a custom Packham dress every time she left hospital with each one of her newborn children. “Those are very intimate, important moments, so it’s a natural decision that Kate would turn to Jenny once again,” said Holt.

When it came to Saturday, behind the scenes, staff at both Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace worked together to ensure there would be appropriate contingencies if Kate felt unwell or unable to travel to the Horseguards Parade and step on the Buckingham Palace balcony.

[From Page Six]

Re: the Packham dress, that was one of the better upcycles I’ve seen from Kate. I thought it was a new dress, I didn’t realize she just added My Fair Waity ribbons to a Packham dress we saw just before the coronation last year. Now, do you think recycling an old dress had another purpose? Has Kate not been dress shopping in the past six months? I guess she hasn’t been shopping, because we surely would have heard about it, or heard if Natasha Archer was picking up clothes for her. So Kate sort of had to go with something already in her closet, right?

As for the Porteous photo… Christopher Bouzy was doing breakdowns of how the pic was edited and he was being attacked by British media figures for it. Which is big “tell” that something in the milk ain’t clean about the photo.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, Matt Porteous/KP.

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136 Responses to “Page Six: Princess Kate upcycled a Jenny Packham dress to ensure secrecy”

  1. Mego says:

    She dresses up as Eliza doolittle.. so she is trolling us nowadays isn’it?

    • Jais says:

      Kate has always been a trolling troll who trolls. Copy-keening Meghan after participating in a smear campaign against her is just one example.

      • Pinkosaurus says:

        I don’t know that’s it’s trolling, but picking the striped ribbon was definitely a choice. They could have used any pattern – polka dots, check, floral…. It may have been as dumb and basic as wanting to make her look like Audrey Hepburn because she’s a thin brunette too.

    • Ellie says:

      Thé top photo has 3 unhappy looking children in it. It must be misery for these kids between church, and special occasions just to be seen. The dress at the front from the waist has a dart on each side and is quite lose could there be a colostomy bag underneath?

    • Yvette says:

      Am I the only one who thought the stripes were dark blue??

  2. equality says:

    If she had work done on the dress, how is that any more “secret” than buying a new dress? Maybe PW has slashed her budget.

    • ML says:

      This is adjacent to what I came to say.

      “Now, do you think recycling an old dress had another purpose? Has Kate not been dress shopping in the past six months?”

      I think that her clothing budget was curtailed after Meghan left. At any rate, she has begun to rewear her closet. We also suspected that her hair budget had been slashed prior to her having gone missing as well.

      • Eurydice says:

        That dress cost almost $3,000. She should get more than one wear out of it.

      • ML says:

        Eurydice, I agree with you. It would be great if their jobs ceased to exist and they actually earned money.

        I’m not being clear, but I think there’s been a change in how K buys dresses. That specific change and the “why” she had to is interesting to me. I believe that at the very least, since she’s entered “cottage life” so to speak (possibly sooner), she’s had to become more rewear amenable. W, the environmentalist, doesn’t seem to have the same constraints and we have seen his valet or dresser slathering his body with new clothes.

    • I agree. It wasn’t in secret. It’s probably the one thing in the last six months that was not secret. Maybe her wardrobe budget has been cut for some reason.

      • Christine says:

        Am I the only one who finds the tone of this bizarre? “…in order to keep her return to the public eye a secret”????? It wasn’t her damn wedding, it was an arbitrary day picked to celebrate the monarch’s birthday. Why in the actual fcuk would secrecy need to be assured for what she is wearing to a parade?!?! I am so confused by the messaging coming out of England.

      • Agreatreckoning says:

        @Christine, no, you’re not the only one. The intent of the BRF/BM is to confuse. Reading this dumba$$ bs-my first question (in my mind) was, how many times was Kate’s outfit to an event announced before the event? Ever? The designer doesn’t matter to the question. This whole secrecy thing storyline is so dumb & stupid. Not shocking from BM related news agencies.

        Love Christopher Bouzy’s clapbacks.

    • GS12 says:

      More to the point, if she has to go such great lengths to retain privacy by creating inner circles within inner circles, what does that say about the people around her?

      • Jais says:

        And the very deep secrets she has. That only a very few people can be trusted to know.

      • Elle says:

        But she doesn’t need a budget for a new dress. Almost any designer would have loaned her a dress for the day for free if not outright given it to her. She’s sample size. I think they thought she wouldn’t feel well enough to attend and didn’t plan ahead on getting a new dress, and are spinning it now as upcycling.

      • DDDDC says:

        @Elle: the royals are not supposed to take freebies … discounts are ok though 🙄

      • isabella says:

        Speaking of size, can somebody explain what’s happened to her boobs? From the side, she barely has any. I don’t remember her being flat-chested.

      • rosa mwemaid says:

        Isabella, simple she has lost weight, if you are not pregnant or feeding then your breasts are almost all fat. She’s never been big.

    • WithTheAmerican says:

      My current theory is W cut her clothing allowance because he doesn’t want her appearing either him (as he’s made clear), so she plotted behind his back to show up and only Charles/Camilla (?) knew. They planned to announce via the press, which she did, and W was angry to be out manipulated.

      This would explain the at war briefings, lack of sightings of Middletons until today, and most importantly William staying far far away from her “cancer” briefings, which now appear to be misleading.

      I say that as someone who has repeatedly not believed they are divorcing (and maybe they’re still not). But it is the only thing that makes sense of all of the moving parts.

      • Aurora says:

        I think her wardrobe allowance was reduced once expenses for the kids started to pile up; most likely after Louis was born. The pandemic didn’t help either: It wasn’t at all sensitive or even doable to keep popping at events wearing a new fancy outfit each time. It was around that time when she started recycling even her pre-wedding clothes and wearing more pantsuits.

      • Lily says:

        I don’t think so Tampon king raised the working royals allowance in this year from 86million to 125 and there are not so many working royals thanks to him his oldest, and his horseface misstress

  3. bk says:

    newsflash. people edit photos. whatevs.

    • Em says:

      Public figures don’t go about superimposing images

    • Jais says:

      Yes they do. However they are not all equated to North Koran levels of propaganda by photo agencies. That Mother’s Day image was not lightly edited. It was cut and pasted together in order to deceive the public. So yes that means that all their photos now are going to be highly scrutinized. That’s what happens.

    • Interested Gawker says:

      Edit, sure. Create essentially collages of imagery to make a picture of a moment that didn’t actually happen is the issue here as well as the almost pathological need to lie about how recently they were ‘taken’ or who ‘took then’ is the issue, the duplicity. This image has the same MO of leaving ‘visual chatter’ to draw the eye away from her and fixate on the woodland around her. That isn’t a compositional choice, it’s a scam protecting the areas of the image they don’t want scrutinized. These KP photos are propaganda and bad alibis.

    • WithTheAmerican says:

      I’m sorry to read that you think all people make photos of something that did not happen and then lie about it to the world. I can assure you, that is not normal.

      And it’s really sick when used to say this person is fine, see them here in a chair with their kids, when that actually never happened.

    • Agreatreckoning says:

      Thank you @bk for the SNL news update. If you can explain the funky foot situation edit, that would be great. When the initial photo came out, I mentioned the feet were in a weird position for standing unless you’re leaning against something. (outside of the other weirda$$ editing).

      If a professional photographer took this photo-why the need for all the edits.

      It’s a frankenfooto. Misspelling intentional.

    • McGee says:

      Bk,

      Tell Wooten

  4. Wagiman says:

    Surely she’s got dozens if not hundreds of unworn dresses? Interesting though that she chose one from just last year. Her obsession with giant bows is simply disturbing. But I guess if she wants to be my fair waity, then power to her.

    Oh my! First glimpse at Louise. Wtaf? Why is she dressed like an old granny?

    • fanzea says:

      I know – what era is Louise cosplaying? And Edwardian lady in waiting?

    • Whyforthelove says:

      Louise is tragic. She looks nothing like the teenager she is ….

      • equality says:

        Hopefully when she is at school and out and about she dresses differently.

      • Lisa says:

        Poor girl looks like she her dress was made from a bedsheet 😳

      • Agreatreckoning says:

        Louise isn’t tragic. I’ll admit I have a tender spot for her. Possibly wrong, guessing she’s given less dress choices. Sophie & Edward are doing her no favors. Along with the BRF. Louise has a great head of hair-biased because of reasons.

        Close your eyes and imagine if Louise was given the chance to wear the dress from H&M’s umbrella photo with no hat. Great hair is better than a hat. Especially when it’s real (the hair). If the BaRF wants to modernize the monarchy, they need to give Louis better clothing.imo It’s the least they could do.

    • Interested Gawker says:

      “My fair Waity”

      😂😂😂

    • Nic919 says:

      Unlike Kate, Louise actually require a dress that her mother originally wore.

      No way packham reworked the dress like this. This is another lie. After all they are definitely ok with lying about why she hid for six months, what’s another smaller lie about a dress. This is also the same woman who has multiples of the same but slightly different outfit.

      • Cathy says:

        I agree. This is a new dress. Kate has been known to order multiples of the same outfit. Here there was a version with the bow and a version without. She’s not reworking old dresses especially for her first appearance in months.

    • Dandelion2 says:

      Louise is dressed like Princess Anne!

    • MaryContrary says:

      Poor Louise is always in her mother’s hand me downs.

      • Lily says:

        I hope Louise doesn’t have one of those overbearing mothers who want their daughters to mini me them in the clothing department. That would mean Louise has to run her clothing choices past her mother for approval and those mothers don’t care how old you are. They don’t want to relinquish their power.

      • Flower says:

        The whole Louise in hand-me-downs situation strikes me as being very cleverly coordinated by Sophie.

        She knows how that family is and I think she deliberately Keeps Louise and James out of the limelight for now to stop them being used as human shields.

        Louise is being very much presented as a non threat to the likes of Kate, Zara etc.

        I think Louise is actually quite sweet and like her brother I hope she has the good sense to do something meaningful with her life.

      • Agreatreckoning says:

        @Flower, I wonder if Louise is being dimmed down. She’s a lovely girl and if given the chance to where silhouettes of what Meghan wore, she would help modernize the monorchyl I’m good with the BRF’s shiteshow. It’s like they want to dumb down the future.

        Anyhoo, please leave any negative personal opinions/observations about Louise out. Louise doesn’t have a voice or choice.imo Sophie needs to do some better negotiating if she has any concern for her daughter.

  5. Hypocrisy says:

    The consequences of that “Kill Notification” will haunt everything coming from the BRF now and especially from the Kensington Palace offices. Love that the propaganda rota can’t do anything about it. They can ignore it in the bubble they created but the rest of the world will question and investigate everything now.

  6. Seraphina says:

    So she can be thrifty when she wants to be or when it suits her best interests.
    As far as her illness or lack there of, the continuous ambiguity and ping-ponging back and forth makes me believe this is all just a game. I am glad she is well enough to be see looking healthy and for people to question the issue of whether she truly is ill or not.

    • Cheshire Sass says:

      Exactly!! She has a wardrobe that could outfit a small undernourished nation! She could pull out a dress from 2 years ago, not make a big deal about it and no one would notice or care. It’s sad that she’s only known for her Barbie doll attire. You hit the nail on the head, The will she/ wont she show is a game. I don’t want to downplay her illness, but my god, lesser souls have to get up and go to work every day and also take care of their families unless they’re actually bed ridden. Even her elderly father in law, the King is able to manage to get out and about and she looks a lot healthier than he does!

  7. Becks1 says:

    I mean I doubt Natasha Archer slapped a bow on the Packham dress and called it a day, but I would laugh so hard if that is what happened. But I’m sure someone at JP made the edits and kept their mouths shut the way they have before.

    As for the IG picture – meh. Maybe it was heavily edited, what else do people expect? This is KP and they arent going to change. We saw Kate on Saturday so we all know she’s alive and in the UK and not in a coma or worse.

    • ML says:

      I think she’s been rewearing clothing, and 1. Normal people do this all the time, and 2. Vanzelfsprekend lla, for instance, seems to be wearing new clothes, and W has the money for his fashion-valet makeover. So, rewearing isn’t per se bad, just it could indicate financial access/ lack thereof.

      Editing pix: Yes, they want control and are not about to give that up. However, something caused K to disappear for almost half a year. In 3 verifiable images, it looks like she’s acquired a nasty scar, and it seems that KP has done the utmost to bury mentions of K and scars, unless it’s from the past. Also, if something is wrong, it’s been attributed to K, while successful moves are to W’s credit. The overall vibe of the Wail’s return wasn’t really positive. If that scar has anything to do with W, then it’s good that we’ve seen her, but the editing is problematic and we probably won’t see her from close range with verifiable photos for a while.

      • ML says:

        Edit: after the 2., it should say Camzilla.

        I came back, because it isn’t clear to me why this story is out. K has reworn a lot of her clothes in the pst few years and gotten praised for it. It’s not new behavior.
        Who wanted this published? It indicates that K has a trust problem with designers? Or that she still can’t be seen except by a few people? Or that she’s paranoid? Did this come from secret agent man W? Is W or someone else trying to get credit for part of her reappearance?

      • Meija says:

        The scar was from a childhood surgery. They spoke about it back in 2022 so not new. She is rail thin though can’t remember if she has always been?.

      • Lisa says:

        @meija. I have seen the pics that were attributed to the childhood injury, but actually look suspiciously like hair extensions, and this is not that

        There is in one photo online very obvious scar that rolls from her hairline, and across her eyebrow. The photo shopping from one pic on a site to another is crazy.

        Very different from when KP was saying that she did not use extensions, which, FFS we all know she does, along with winglets etc

      • Julianna says:

        @ML Is there anyway you can link me to these 3 images? I have only seen one.

        And yes. I agree. The editing is beyond ridiculous and problematic. Its concerning because they arent simple edits and on a lot if it I dont even understand why the edits are made in the first place to those areas. I mean at this point from the horrible edits noticed in that last photo of her Im wondering if she even stood there at all for the picture and it was AI generated. They should be held accountable every single time. I hope they are called out for it at the very least on social media each and everytime. It’s gone way past simple edits and photoshopping and they are now consistent frauds.

      • Becks1 says:

        @ML I don’t think we will ever know the truth of the last 6 months. It was more than just cancer that’s for sure.

        The reason why I’m not as bothered by the edited picture as other people is…..I expected nothing less from KP. They don’t think there is anything wrong with their editing, their frankenphotos, etc. So why would they change their behavior? WE can say, looking in, how it’s a bad strategy and if anything they should be 100% above board at this point with their photos with zero editing etc so as to remove all doubt. And I agree with that take.

        But KP isn’t going to agree with that. They’ve long photoshopped and softened pictures of Kate to hide her aging and flaws (even though we all have them) and they aren’t going to stop now regardless of what they’re hiding.

        These people are so entitled and in such a privileged bubble that they think the public should be thankful Kate released a picture at all no matter how edited. They don’t operate like a normal business would or a normal family and we need to remember that when we think “they should have done X.” Why? William is still getting his duchy millions. Kate still has a get out of work free card. Charles is still getting a pay raise. Etc.

      • Interested Gawker says:

        People are conflating an old story with this one. The ‘childhood surgery scar’ story was up past her hairline and that wasn’t a scar, it was evidence of a wiglet/hair extensions. It was a silly lie to pretend Kate doesn’t use hairpieces.

        Kate has a NEW scar over her eye as evidenced by unretouched photos from Trooping, KP’s strategic use of a body double and KP’s internet search manipulation to get ahead of searches for Kate and scar. Many people are not familiar with how much photoshop and clean up Kate’s photos went through by rote. When she went to the Scandinavian countries photos went out that were not retouched and while she does have a visible pockmark this NEW scar was not there.

      • ML says:

        Julianna, https://www.celebitchy.com/876442/princess_kates_summer_plan_is_to_under-promise_over-deliver_on_events/
        If you count the willow picture thumbnail as pic 1, then enlarge pix 3-5, there you can see the indent next to her eye best. Pic 6 still has it, but it’s less defined. You can tell by her hat that she’s moving in relation to the background, so it’s not just one picture that shows it.
        Meija, I’ve come across articles about a scar in her hair and this isn’t that. Also, in the very few pictures I could find going back for years, I saw a pockmark next to her eye. I’m disturbed, because it is now deeper and elongated. I also noticed a thin white scar above her brow in old pictures, but not the groove along her eye.
        If you go to the Getty site you can pretend to buy high res images of the pictures in the article and if you zoom it, the scar is visible.

      • Julianna says:

        Thank you @ML.

      • Julianna says:

        William and Kate’s next “edits” will consist of fake charity work that never even happened. They will just AI generate everything and who will question them?! Everyone will have come to just expect it from them because they have long “edited” their children into portraits that never existed in the first place and of course Kate’s flaws.

      • Mayp says:

        @julianna, in the first set of photos, below, the picture on the left shows her scar while the picture on the right is a comparison, pre 2024. The next link shows a photo that appeared in the Daily Mail where you can clearly see that they photoshopped, badly, the heck out of that part of her face to cover the scar.

        https://www.reddit.com/r/KateMiddletonMissing/comments/1dgf78o/scar/

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13533545/body-language-expert-princess-kate-prince-william-balcony-trooping-colour.html

      • Julianna says:

        @MayP

        Thank you for also sending me these links.

        That edit is sloppy and so obvious. I wonder if it was Chris Jackson. That is definitely a new scar. And something definitely happened and the fact they are trying to hide it and obsufucate is even more telling. The Harry Potter reference was certainly intentional.

        And now they have the Middletons all in Williams face at Ascot. I bet he hates his life right about now having to run about with them faking happy family life.

      • Mayp says:

        @julianna, 💯. I checked out the photograph to see who took it and get an idea of when it was photoshopped. The photo was taken by one Max Mumby, who works with the Indigo and Getty photo agencies. I was wondering if the photo was altered by the photographer or the Daily Mail. I presumed the latter. However, the photoshopped image appears at Getty Images, so I assume it was Mumby that did the rather obvious photoshopping. Maybe Mumby is Kate’s new Chris jackson!

      • Betsy says:

        I too think the new scar is the true story of the last six months. She looked different in a way I can’t put my finger on (her teeth for sure looked different to me), but I think she received a facial injury (and I’ve got my theories from where) and they were bad enough that she had to have her face very much done over. I think it may have been her sitting in the car with her mother and she looked dead because she still had so much facial swelling.

        I see that some are saying they think she just spent the last six months recuperating from a face lift, but you know the advice to color your hair a wild color if you change your nose or something? Here I think a face lift/reconstruction was done to distract from what would have been a much more obvious scar.

      • MayP says:

        @betsy, yes; and her teeth are definitely different. On Saturday I commented that it appears as though they are a bit bigger and sit wider in her mouth than before. Someone else clarified what I was trying to say and that is that her buccal corridor is smaller. I’m thinking that is a change that would only be caused by new teeth, and not cosmetic surgery. The other commenter (withtheamerican?) said she got “Meghan” teeth. And that is so true!

    • Eurydice says:

      From what I can tell, that seems to be what happened. The only changes to the dress are the bow and that the belt is striped instead of solid black. They could have ordered the pieces from JP.

    • Rnot says:

      I’m not bothered by vanity edits. The problem with the Mother’s Day pic was that it was posted at the peak of the proof-of-life furor, so it was alarming and deceptive in a new way. Here, we got irrefutable proof that she’s alive the very next day so… whatever. I don’t really care if they want to photoshop 10 years off their faces or 10 pounds off their bodies.

      • Interested Gawker says:

        And the agencies gave KP the opportunity to give them the original image. They did not have to kill the photo if it could be shown that it really was just tweaking small things here and there. KP couldn’t correct the record because there hadn’t been one photo that could be shown to be taken when they said it was and the main component was actually a professional Vogue shoot.

    • WithTheAmerican says:

      I personally don’t care but it is being used as a matter of record for a next to be head of state currently funded by taxpayers.

      So it does matter that their photos are still propaganda. We shouldn’t get used to accepting that as normal for them, because it is not normal.

      Nor should it be conflated with wanting proof of life, which I agree everyone got at TOC. Still not okay to distribute historical moments via SM so they can’t be checked by legit news agencies and the photos look highly deceptive.

  8. Em says:

    She doesn’t have cancer, she threw a tantrum and threatened to leave so Charles had to give her a fancy new order and she gets to pick and choose which events she wants to be seen at, I won’t be suprised if she stops doing little engagements. I wonder how long the royals will keep accommodating her demands and if they’re gonna tell her to FO one day

    • Snaggletooth says:

      I’ve seen multiple twitter threads with 100+ bots all swearing the best they’ve ever looked was when they were in chemo.

      Hot dogs holler apparently.

      • Em says:

        With the more appearances she makes the more people are gonna question her looks or if she was even sick at all, her fans deep down know even Elizabeth Holmes is asking cancer survivors if their appearance changed. Their messaging and PR made it seem like she was at deaths door and her recent appearance contradicts that

      • Wagiman says:

        Someone was posting that here yesterday or day before too.

      • Julianna says:

        I have saw the same thing. So many accounts… I think Kate has her own BOTS seperate from KP.

      • Jais says:

        Sorry but your typo is making me laugh this morning. Hot dogs holler 🌭🌭🌭

      • Snaggletooth says:

        Lmao I swear autocorrect does its damndest to make me look stupid every flippin day

      • Kelly says:

        There’s a strong push that she was out for plastic surgery. I mean the girl looks radiant.
        You can go lower than using cancer to cover for plastic surgery, but it would be tough.

      • Jais says:

        Not stupid! This was a cute autocorrect. And appropriate for any juneteenth cookouts happening today. Happy Juneteenth🎉

      • Snaggletooth says:

        @kelly I am a little face lift focused right now and have been for awhile. I follow a lot of great surgeons on insta. I truly see the signs of a facelift. That said, the work is GORGEOUS. Top notch. The teeth too. She got the Anne Hathaway/angelina Jolie special. Surgeons in the uk kinda suck so maybe that was the purpose of rumors placing her in the US. I would be happy for her and trying to find the name of her surgeon if it weren’t all so cynical.

      • WithTheAmerican says:

        The bot campaign is everywhere and their paid commenters trying it on forums everywhere.

        Which is a big sign that they’re lying.

        I don’t believe she’s getting chemo right now and I doubt she ever had cancer. I suspect she’s was sick with something and or caused her own crisis, and is using it to control William like she has in the past. What a horrible marriage, he is insufferable. Miserable people.

  9. EasternViolet says:

    Kate was more interesting when she was missing.

  10. Amy Bee says:

    The upcylcle was to garner attention. She could have just pulled out something out of her walk in closet if she truly wanted to be sustainable and didn’t anybody to know she was attending. I consider this a new dress not a rewear.

  11. Pinniped and Poodle says:

    That is a horrifying picture of all the unpaid labor.

    I mean, yes they don’t have to pay for rent, food, clothing or servants – but as we have seen, that is in no way guaranteed, it is at the whim of whoever is in the top job.

    Also, as we have seen, whoever is in the top job seems to spend an inordinate amount of time figuring out new ways to be petty to the people he knows best.

    At the very least they should all be getting residuals for every picture given to the media. Especially the kids. I mean we have the Jackie Coogan law in the US, those kids are akin to child actors and they are unable to consent due to their age.

    Money from that picture should be put into a fiduciary account for the kid, because it has been clearly proven that there is no guarantee those kids will even have a house to live in or security to protect them from the all the repercussions this shameful exploitation may visit upon them for the rest of their lives

    • Interested Gawker says:

      I agree. I think it was the H&M documentary that mentioned W&H were born into the ‘invisible contract’ rather than participants who chose to interact with the BM of their own volition. That’s very scary. The BRF wanted to introduce Archie as a public figure while working behind the scenes to deny him a title and security and lower in the LOS in any case. H&M were right to leave and give both their children a private life. It’s a bad situation for the primary heirs, how much worse would it be for children who were going to have all the supports in that royal life taken from them?

      They should rework royal childhood to reflect modernity and compensation against their participation as minors is only not only fair but civilized.

  12. lisa says:

    somewhere Anne read that recycling a dress is news and had a good laugh

    • Lisa says:

      LOL, I don’t think Anne has bought any clothes in decades. Which I give her total kudos for. Aging sucks, and the affect on your clothing size as well

  13. Tessa says:

    I hope Kate does not pass down some of her drab outfits for Charlotte to wear like Sophie passes on to Louise. Louise is going to university and should get more stylish clothes.

  14. First comment says:

    Sorry for asking but I can’t understand the whole secrecy…why only few of her trusted ones only knew about this? Why?to ensure the surprise and the public’s adoration of her return? Or was it simply a secret for both KP and BP till the day before? I mean there were different members of the Rota briefed by the palace (both KP and BP?) who declared an appearance of Kate at the trooping was highly unlikely…I think that both of the palace were blindsided by her return…or at least William, judging by his face during trooping…it was certainly not the face of husband worrying about his wife but that of an irritated man….food for thought 🙄

    • Julianna says:

      That is exactly what I was thinking?! Why was this supposed to be some special secret. Why would she care if things got leaked that she was going to attend? Why would she care if the public knew that she was actually okay? This actually disgusts me. And yes, it does seem possible she may have blindsided them as well.

      • Becks1 says:

        So I can see it being a “secret” if they weren’t sure how she would be feeling that day and didn’t want to promise her appearance and then she couldn’t make it.

        But why not just say that? Why not just say “the princess of wales hopes to attend trooping but it will depend on her health the day of the event.” Making it into a big secret with a secret dress makes it seem like she was always planning on going while someone was running to the press about how she wouldn’t be there and don’t expect her.

        Different agendas at KP again?

      • Jais says:

        The part that made me laugh was describing Kate as phoning Charles to tell him she was attending trooping. And that he was “delighted.” So what are the different agendas? Idk. Part of me wondered how soon of notice William even had. Either way, it felt like the secrecy was all about making it a surprise return. To make it a splashy moment. Build suspense? Idk. But in the lead up, there were reports that she wouldn’t be seen for the rest of the year and then remember Houston. What was that about? It’s all weird.

      • Tessa says:

        Camilla might have gotten keens call to Charles doubt she was thrilled if so. The hotline to Charles by keen sounds like fiction. It was probably decreed by charles that keen show up and maybe a courtier let her know to show up.

    • Nic919 says:

      This is a made up story to try and make Kate look thrifty after she spend six months hiding away and then looking refreshed. Packham hasn’t spilled the beans on any of her outfits before so why would they do it now.

      And it’s more likely that this is another same but different outfit. She got a new hat in any case and that could have been exposed too. So the story doesn’t even make sense.

    • WithTheAmerican says:

      Yeah, I agree that William was surprised. This is really playing out just like that astrologer (usually I treat astrology like as amuse ent but I have to say, this guy even predicted George’s birthday years before he was born) who passed years ago predicted, Kate seeking refuge with Charles and aligning against W, maybe to protect herself. Who knows. Makes the Kate and Carole in 5 wheel Audi make sense, too.

      Very telling that the Middletons are out again, too.

  15. sevenblue says:

    Wow, that header pic.. I would say they look like in a funeral, but they were giddy when QEII died.

  16. Agnes says:

    I have written too many mystery novels in my head about what’s been going down with Ms. Doolittle. I’m just happy she’s not buried somewhere. Someone read WanK’s lips on the balcony and supposedly he said something like “you won, alright?” I bet she’s been “no contact” and NOT in Windsor since Christmas so of course they’d have to beam her in via photoshop. Bye Kate, be good.

    • Interested Gawker says:

      “you won, alright?“

      What!? Really? Is William stuck with her now?

      Definitely DV if that’s the case, the five wheeled car was MaMidds mama bear revenge. William played himself and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving person.

    • Nic919 says:

      William might have said that, but the Windsors ultimately always win. He did something dumb to have her get some power for now, but he’s not going to let her win overall.

      • Tessa says:

        Ultimately though on the surface the queen and philip were sympathetic to Diana they sided with Charles. Despite Kate being the bestest daughter he ever had would side with William re divorce.

  17. Tarte Au Citron says:

    I like that the dress was upcycled. For once someone had enough smarts to realise a new dress wouldn’t go down too well with the ‘lesser mortals’.
    I did think the bow made it look a bit 80s, and I was half-expecting some dreary fawning about ‘how Kate is paying homage to Diana’ because Diana once wore bows.

    All this… I wouldn’t want Kate’s life. Feeling that you *always* have look & be perfect, no matter what. (Then dealing with Lord Baldemort, urgh)

  18. Avonan says:

    Kate looks extremely irritated in that first photo, with the kids and Sophie (in the background) looking somber. Wonder what went down.

  19. SussexWatcher says:

    I guess things really are back to normal then – all she has to offer is being a clothes hanger. Again.

    IMO, the smart move, for Colonel Kate, would have been to inspect “her” troops in person the week before. That would show she actually cares about her role (she doesn’t) and not just about getting an upcycled frock and smiling and waving (she does). But this is who she’s always been and will always be so I shouldn’t be surprised.

    • ML says:

      Omg, I just realized something—that apology! Supposedly K apologized about not coming in person to the Irish Guards and had a glaring American English spelling mistake in her response… no one expected her to actually be there, but she (probably someone else) wrote to say this. At that moment, they probably already knew that she would be at Trooping, right? The Irish Guards would have been a close-up of K and with “uncontrolled” pix. Trooping was from behind glass/ far away.

      • Carmen Jones says:

        Does anyone remember just after the Coronation, one of the Royal Experts mentioned KCIII had put Kate on a budget. To make it look like she was following orders, she would have a new dress made that was similar to one she already had. I think this was mentioned before the coronation was over that she was wearing a different dress. Similar but not the same. I have reached middle-age so I could be mistaken about where I read it.

  20. Proud Mary says:

    So, I guess this is another thing that “lesser mortals” under going chemo treatment wouldn’t have been able to do? Asking for a friend.

  21. Midnight@theOasis says:

    “ Well aware that her appearance would cause a commotion around the globe”

    Did it though? Seems like her reappearance got overshadowed by a jar of raspberry jam and dog biscuits.

    • Em says:

      I was expecting to see tweets from people saying “sorry I thought she was dead” but I didn’t see those tweets, even American twitter was like meh

    • Interested Gawker says:

      “ Well aware that her appearance would cause a commotion around the globe”

      That was a straight out admission that the scar Kate has is real. Telling people not to expect more from them, not to care, insist that there’s no reason to give their photos scrutiny, accusing people of being crazy or being conspiracy theorists is KP trying to stop the skeletons from tumbling out of the closet. Once one skeleton falls it might start other ones falling and those are too close to the BM and William (and Cam) for comfort.

  22. Jaded says:

    That top photo looks like something out of the Addams Family. All of them are grim AF at what was supposed to be a celebration. There are some things you cannot hide, your face and body posture will inevitably give it away.

    • Sid says:

      There seems to be an extra layer of misery that comes with being in the BRF. When you look at the continental royals and their families when they are at official events, one thing that always stands out is how close-knit they seem in comparison to this crew. WA and Maxima with their kids. Felipe and Letizia with their kids. Victoria and Daniel and their kids. Even with the marital drama of Fred and Mary, you still get a sense of warmth when it comes to the kids. Same with Haakon and Mette M. Then you have this Cambridge/Wales clan. Something seems off, to put it kindly.

    • BlueNailsBetty says:

      I know that photos capture a mere one second in time but all five people in that photo, during the exact same second, look deeply unhappy about being there. Not a single one of them looks happy or even just curious. They look miserable.

  23. MerlinsMom1018 says:

    I’m old so I just don’t understand how folks can pick out the editing or Photoshop on a picture.
    Curses. Born at the wrong time I guess. 😄

    • Libra says:

      Oldie here as well. I’ll be long gone before someone spills the truth about what really happened during the missing 6 months. Eventually it will come out.

      • rosa mwemaid says:

        I find them difficult to spot as well but the franken photo was easy she just looked to young, fit and healthy for a woman with cancer it had to be fake, I didn’t see the editing until it was pointed out.

  24. Lulu says:

    On 2nd look, I despise the kids outfits. They look like the Adam’s family when Gomez lost his will to live. Haunted and sad. The colors wash them out and the style is too East European baroque. Couple that with their grim expressions and its a bit scary. Very odd choice.

    • kelleybelle says:

      And when the hell are they going to put pants on Louis!?

      • Miss Scarlett says:

        Probably when he’s 7 or so. Traditionally boys wore short pants until they made their First Communion (age 7-ish) or went to boarding school (age 8).

  25. Tessa says:

    Kates photo in the group looks very touched up

  26. tamsin says:

    At first glance, the Kate in the woods photo has a surreal air about it. Kate doesn’t seem attached to the background, almost as if she had been photo-shopped in. A “not out of the woods yet” meme is clever, I suppose. For sure there are multiple things at play here, and for sure KP is hiding something, or obfuscating, or misleading the public. I feel I’ve been had.

  27. JEB says:

    Getty put out an editor’s note about the Kate in the woods photo-not a kill order like the last time but acknowledging it’s fake nonetheless. But why such a faked photo if she was there the next day and looking better than someone w/cancer/chemo? These people are so weird and shady.

    https://x.com/sussexhenryviii/status/1801757065616232917?s=46&t=9OpGXDNN7w-VdesibW5sgQ

    • sevenblue says:

      Getty is covering their own ass now. Probably they didn’t get any metadata for this image either. So, they don’t know if the date is correct or any edits are made. Disclaimer is the right approach here, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a fake photo. They should have added these long time ago since we all saw bad photoshop job on their photos before, but it seems that mother day photo changed BRF’s trustworthiness for them.

  28. Lily says:

    I like the reworked dress with the bow and matching ribbon around the waist.

  29. BeanieBean says:

    Holt’s explanation of the dress is so confusing. First, she says Kate has tailors on hand & they could have made the alterations; then she says Kate trust Jenny Packham, & Packham would have made the alterations. So which is it? Or are they just guessing, per usual? ‘Cause nobody knows how ‘to do’ actual journalism? (Not that getting to the source of who altered a dress is actual journalism, but hey, they chose this topic.)

    Gah! The alterations weren’t even reported accurately! The trim at the neckline was already there, the black belt was already there–the bow was added & a white stripe added to the belt.

  30. SenseOfTheAbsurd says:

    Wait – isn’t that yellow dress making Sophie look like a block of cheddar identical to the outfit Kate wore to some event a couple of years ago? Maybe the one in the cathedral where Harry and Meghan made a spectacular entry in Dior, and Waity was in the pews looking like she was chewing broken glass?

  31. blueberry says:

    I dunno why but calling this an upcycle bothers me. Upcycle means to turn it into something different. This is just the dress with a bow. I know people who buy old dresses at the thrift store and turn them into cute tops—that kind of thing. Ugh whatever

    • equality says:

      Well previously they have called it “recycling” a dress when she just rewore something. The BM doesn’t have a firm grasp of word meanings.

  32. Carmen Jones says:

    Does anyone remember during the Coronation, one of the Rotamentioned KCIII had put Kate on a strict budget. To make it look like she was following orders, she would have a new dress made that was similar to one she already had.

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