Kate Middleton wasn’t the only one making a reappearance Saturday at Trooping the Colour after time out of the spotlight—her white Jenny Packham dress appears to be another of the Princess of Wales’ signature royal rewears, an altered version of a dress that she wore to a pre-coronation luncheon for King Charles III in May 2023.
Eagle-eyed royal fashion watchers noticed that her white long-sleeved dress, trimmed at the waist and neckline with black and white striped grosgrain ribbon, paired with Jimmy Choo heels and a Philip Treacy hat, looked very similar to the Packham dress she donned to greet crowds and eat finger sandwiches on May 5, 2023, the day before the coronation. (The British fashion label did not immediately return Vanity Fair‘s request for comment.)
The prior version of the archival frock featured a plain black trim on its crewneck and a wide black ribbon belt. The more attention-grabbing striped trim, complete with a large bow at the neck, was added to the look. The Princess of Wales also wore the Irish Guards regimental brooch, of which she is colonel, to her latest appearance.
Saturday marked Kate’s first public engagement this year. She has been absent from the royal calendar since Christmas Day 2023, first with an extended recovery period after abdominal surgery, then the shock announcement that she had been diagnosed with cancer and would undergo treatment including chemotherapy. She announced Friday, less than 24 hours before Trooping the Colour, that she would be attending the King’s birthday parade, a move that sources tell Vanity Fair was entirely her decision. She watched the festivities with her children from a window in Buckingham Palace, then stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the king, who is also being treated for cancer, on the palace’s balcony to greet the public.
Kate is known for drawing from her own archives to dress for engagements, a nod to sustainability. Even her Friday announcement that she would attend the parade featured a new photograph of the princess in a beige pinstriped Blazé Milano blazer she’d worn before. Back in July 2023, she sported the same jacket to accompany her children to the Royal International Air Tattoo airshow.
