Kate Middleton's Butter-Yellow Dress Is a Secret Nod to Queen Elizabeth

She wore the same outfit to Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee.

• Kate Middleton's butter yellow ensemble at today's Royal Garden Party had a subtle connection to Queen Elizabeth II.
• The late Queen would often wear bold colors to stand out in the crowd, as explained by Duchess Sophie in the documentary The Queen at 90.
• The Princess of Wales previously wore the same outfit to Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

Kate Middleton's surprise appearance at today's Buckingham Palace Royal Garden Party is prompting royals fans to take note given her outfit's subtle connection to Queen Elizabeth II. Stepping out in a butter yellow ensemble alongside her husband, Prince William, for her first garden party since 2023, Middleton shone like a beacon of light in the crowd. It was a bold, intentional color choice, in keeping with one strategy often employed by the late queen.

Duchess Sophie explained the sartorial strategy in the documentary The Queen at 90. “She needs to stand out for people to be able to say ‘I saw the Queen,'" the royal said. "Don’t forget that when she turns up somewhere, the crowds are two, three, four, 10, 15 deep, and someone wants to be able to say they saw a bit of the Queen’s hat as she went past.”

Royals fans will remember that Middleton made headlines earlier this year for announcing that she would no longer share her outfit details with the press. A palace source told The Sunday Times UK, that the princess didn't want her projects to be overshadowed by the attention on her wardrobe.

“There is an absolute feeling that it [her work] is not about what the princess is wearing,” an insider told the publication at the time. “She wants the focus to be on the really important issues, the people and the causes she is spotlighting.”

However, shortly after that initial story, a spokesperson clarified the statement to People. “To clarify, the comments that appeared in the article were from me, not the Princess of Wales,” the statement read. “The comments that were reported should not be directly attributed to the Princess of Wales. To be clear, there has been no change in our approach to sharing information about Her Royal Highness’s clothing.”

Middleton has been spotted in more muted tones so far this year, making her appearance at the Royal Garden Party a clear departure from that strategy. What's more, the ensemble is actually a recycled look from a June 2022 Service of Thanksgiving honoring the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

At this year's Royal Garden Party, the Prince and Princess of Wales invited a bevy of guests, including cousins Princess Eugenie and Zara Tindall ,  Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Most notably, the couple made sure to spend time with the family of Liz Hatton, a young photographer who died of cancer last December at just 17 years old, just two months after meeting fellow photographer Kate (along with William) at Windsor Castle.