Kate Middleton Joins Prince William for Palace Garden Party for the First Time Since 2023

If her butter yellow outfit looks familiar, there’s a reason why.

• Kate Middleton made a surprise appearance at a Buckingham Palace garden party on May 20 alongside husband Prince William and a number of other royals.
• It is the Princess of Wales’s first garden party since 2023, after stepping away from the season last year as she underwent cancer treatment.
• The future queen wore a familiar outfit in a trendy color—butter yellow Emilia Wickstead previously worn to Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

For her first Buckingham Palace garden party in two years, Kate Middleton returned to an outfit worn for a special occasion in 2022 that happens to be in a very trendy color—butter yellow.

The Princess of Wales joined her husband Prince William and other members of the royal family for the garden party on May 20, with Kate turning up in a surprise appearance. For the occasion Tuesday, William and Kate invited cousins Princess Eugenie and Zara Tindall to join them for the soiree—the third such one of the season.

According to Hello!, the Prince and Princess of Wales personally invited their relatives to help them host; other special guests were there as well, including the family of Liz Hatton, a budding photographer who died of cancer last December at just 17 years old, only two months after meeting fellow photographer Kate (along with William) at Windsor Castle.

William and Kate were also joined at the garden party by Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Kate wore a sunny yellow Emilia Wickstead dress and matching Philip Treacy hat for her first garden party since 2023—and if the ensemble looks familiar, it’s for good reason. The future queen wore the same look to a June 2022 Service of Thanksgiving honoring Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee and her historic 70 years on the throne.

William and Kate’s appearance Tuesday comes two days ahead of their second trip to Scotland inside of a month, when they head out to Glasgow for a visit on May 22. They were last in Scotland on April 29 and April 30, where they visited the Scottish Isles on their 14th wedding anniversary.

Garden parties have been held at Buckingham Palace as far back as the 1860s, when Queen Victoria began what were known as “breakfasts”—even though “they took place in the afternoon,” Hello! reported. According to the outlet, around 27,000 cups of tea, 20,000 sandwiches, and 20,000 slices of cake are consumed at each party.