All of Kate Middleton’s Trooping the Colour Looks From Across the Years
Princess Kate has always used the event to showcase her sharp sartorial instincts—and throw in some fashion curveballs, too.
Reported by Vogue.
Every June, Trooping the Colour delivers one of the most-watched style moments on the royal calendar — a ceremonial parade honoring the monarch's official birthday that pulls in millions of viewers worldwide. And for over a decade, Kate Middleton has treated it like a masterclass in dressing with intention.
According to Vogue, the Princess of Wales has built a remarkable visual archive at this single annual event. Her 2011 debut — one of her first major public appearances after marrying Prince William — set the tone immediately: a crisp white Alexander McQueen skirt suit by Sarah Burton, the same hand behind her iconic wedding gown just months prior. It was a statement of continuity, of brand-building before anyone called it that. She's returned to McQueen again and again since, leaning into structured coats and polished separates that read effortlessly regal without veering into costume territory.
The Curveballs Are the Best Part
But the princess isn't formulaic. A delicate gray floral Erdem dress in 2012 proved she could do romantic without going soft. An emerald Andrew Gn coat dress in 2023 was a color risk that paid off completely. This year, she arrived in an icy blue Catherine Walker Lafayette coat dress with a coordinating Philip Treacy hat — and quietly coordinated Princes George and Louis in matching ties, which, frankly, is the kind of detail that makes the whole thing feel like performance art. Her 2025 appearance carried extra weight: it marked her return to public life following cancer treatment, and she showed up — dressed, precise, radiant.
The throughline across all of it is control. Every hat (Philip Treacy, Jane Taylor, Juliette Botterill), every brooch (the Irish Guards Regimental, worn repeatedly), every jeweler (Kiki McDonough, Annoushka, Cassandra Goad) — nothing is accidental. This is a woman who understands that at an event watched by millions, clothing is communication.
What Kate Middleton has turned Trooping the Colour into, year after year, is proof that dressing for a role and dressing with genuine taste don't have to be mutually exclusive.
Read the original at Vogue.
