There are, surely, many perks of being the mother of the future queen consort of England, Kate Middleton. But my favorite has to be this: raiding your daughter’s closet.
This appears to be what happened on June 14, day one of Royal Ascot, the annual horse racing event; this year’s was attended by several members of the royal family, including Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Kate Middleton’s mom, Carole, was also photographed at the event wearing a familiar pleated pink shirtdress by ME+EM.
The two-toned dress, which Carole styled with a black fascinator and matching black clutch, looks like the very same dress that Kate wore in 2021 while visiting with a young girl, Mila, who has leukemia.
Mila was featured in Hold Still: A Portrait of Our Nation in 2020, which Kate spearheaded in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery. The Duchess of Cambridge spoke with Mila over the phone prior to their visit, during which the five-year-old revealed that her favorite color is pink. Naturally, for the IRL meeting, Kate Middleton arrived in a bubblegum pink dress.
It’s unclear if Carole’s dress is the exact same one that her daughter wore last year, or if she was, like the rest of us, #influenced by her daughter’s fashion choices to buy the same one for herself. Personally, I’d like to imagine there was a reversal of the classic daughter-raids-mom’s-closet trope.
Given Carole is the grandmother of Prince Louis, the sassiest member of the royal family, I’m sure the wardrobe raid was more than well-deserved.
