Kate, like Diana, stood and sang gravely on Remembrance Day while wearing a black outfit with red poppy pins.
The Princess of Wales, 40, wore a pair of Princess Diana's earrings to the National Service of Remembrance in London on Sunday, emerging on a neighboring balcony to see the event at the Cenotaph war memorial. The South Sea Pearl Earrings, which have a detailed arrangement of diamonds that descend into a sizable pearl, were worn by Kate.
The royal family marked the first Remembrance Day weekend without the late Queen Elizabeth II, who had previously presided over events for the last 70 years. According to PEOPLE, the greatest way for Princess Kate to poignantly honor the event was to wear two pieces that previously belonged to Queen Elizabeth. The royal, who wore the customary black mourning clothes, joined her spouse, Prince William, at the Festival of Remembrance on Saturday night at London's Royal Albert Hall.
The National Service of Remembrance was held at the London Cenotaph the next day, and Kate appeared there along with other members of the royal family. Kate donned another black blazer dress for the event, this one by Catherine Walker, one of her favorite designers. The Princess completed her look with a black drop-brim hat and a pair of Princess Diana's former pearl earrings. The understated tributes added to the solemn occasion's poignancy.
It was the first time King Charles III led over the ceremony. In order to honor those lost in the First World War, he put a wreath before the royal procession began. Prince William, Princess Anne, and Prince Edward walked behind him. The royal family members Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Queen Consort Camilla, and others observed the festivities from the balcony.
Kate wore a wide-brimmed black hat, another royal homage to Diana's look from the solemn funeral in 1991. Kate, like Diana, stood and sang gravely on Remembrance Day while wearing a black outfit with red poppy pins. She carried two items that formerly belonged to Queen Elizabeth when she arrived on Saturday at the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall. Kate sparkled wearing a four-strand pearl choker necklace with a diamond gem in the middle, as well as Bahrain pearl drop earrings. The Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings were a present to the Queen for her marriage to Prince Philip in 1947, while the choker necklace was worn by Queen Elizabeth during a state banquet in Bangladesh in 1983.
The choker and the earrings were originally worn by the Princess of Wales during Prince Philip's burial in 2021. The earrings were created from a shell containing seven pearls that were given to Queen Elizabeth by the ruler of Bahrain for her wedding in 1947, according to Her Majesty's Jewel Vault. While attending the Queen's Platinum Jubilee festivities in June, she was also recently spotted wearing pearl drop earrings. "Pearls are one of the very few jewelry items you can wear in mourning and are inextricably linked with Queen Elizabeth and her personal jewelry legacy," Bethan Holt, author of The Queen: 70 Years of Majestic Style, previously told PEOPLE. "It's a symbol of mourning a monarch but also a grandmother or great-grandmother."
References:
https://www.amazon.com/Queen-70-years-Majestic-Style/dp/1788794273
http://queensjewelvault.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-bahrain-pearl-drop-earrings.html
https://people.com/royals/kate-middleton-pearls-honored-queen-elizabeth-royal-tradition/
https://people.com/royals/kate-middleton-wears-princess-dianas-earrings-remembrance-sunday/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | (L) Richard Pohle - WPA Pool; (R) Pool
