Kate wears bright yellow for first day in Australia; repeats an outfit for last day in New Zealand

Tags

Australia, Day 10, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Fashion, Fashion Repeat, Grumpy Face, Jewelry, Kate Middleton, New Zealand, Prince George, Prince William, Royal New Zealand Police College, Sydney, Sydney Opera House, Wellington

Bow down to Prince George’s Grumpy Face, peasants! The Grumpy Face was on full display today while leaving New Zealand and arriving in Australia. George is completely over this whole trip, and peasants, and flowers. But not koalas.

Now that I’ve led with the most important person on this trip, let’s talk Cambridges. I am leading with their arrival in Sydney and will talk about their departure from New Zealand below. I’m doing it this way because I want to talk about Kate’s Sydney outfit first. Before I get to that, let’s do business. Prince William and Kate landed in Sydney and met some dignitaries–there was a kerfuffle with the premier of New South Wales, Barry O’Farrell, who retired a few hours before Will and Kate landed after he had been accused of accepting a £1,600 bottle of wine from the former chief executive of Australian Water Holdings. Scandal! Where’s Olivia Pope when you need her? Anyway, he was replaced in the reception line. Then the Cambridges went to the Sydney Opera House for a reception, where William gave a speech that included a reference to Diana’s love of Australia. They did a walkabout before taking a boat around the harbor and retiring for the evening.

For her arrival in Sydney, Kate wore a bright yellow dress—with a few patches of white color-blocking—from Roksanda Ilincic, a Serbian designer based in London.  Yellow is one of Australia’s colors, so the dress was in honor of the host country.  The dress is a bespoke design, but is modeled after the “Ryedale” dress from the Spring/Summer 2014 collection (the dress is priced at $1,441, but that doesn’t include all of Kate’s alterations).  For Kate, the colors have been reversed and the sleeves altered to be more fitted.  Kate accessorized the dress with her Annoushka pearl drop earrings, her Mappin & Webb Fortune white gold drop pendant, Cartier watch, and those awful nude LK Bennet heels.  Kate wore her hair up in a half-ponytail style.  I love this dress!  This is quite possibly one of my favorite things she’s ever worn.  I like her dress better than the original design in the collection.  The color is lovely and makes her really pop out of the crowd—but granted my favorite color is yellow.  This whole outfit is great—except those damn LK Bennet shoes!

Some odd and ends:  Unfortunately, there has been another comparison to a flight attendant uniform courtesy of Matilda So Blue.  William held his son in public for only the third time in his life (the second is discussed below).  We got more pictures of Nanny Maria, carrying George’s backpack and putting him in the car.  We also got a shot of Rebecca Deacon.  A Prince Harry impersonator showed up with a gaggle of bikini-clad women.  They were asked to leave by the police.

[Might want to watch this video on mute, chatter is annoying. Also W&K footage ends at 2:07 mark]

Before departing for Australia, William and Kate visited the Royal New Zealand Police College where they laid a wreath in honor of fallen officers, and met the officers and some cute German shepherd puppies that will be trained to be police dogs.  They also met foster families for the dogs.  The puppies were tiny, only 12 days old.  George got yet another gift, this time it was a blue onsie with the words “junior recruit” on the front.  There was another traditional Maori performance—after they broke out a performance of “Singing in the Rain” because it was raining, which is kind of awesome.  They ended by doing a walkabout.

When Kate and Will boarded the plane in NZ, William actually held George.  It’s only the second time Will has held George in public—the first being when they brought him out of the hospital.  I get the feeling that George really likes being held facing front.  We’ve seen him held on Kate’s hip and then he squirms until she faces him forward; and now Will is holding him the same way.  I have to say though, Will kind of seemed more interested in the German shepherd puppy than he did George; and he kind of held him out and away from his body.

For her last appearance in NZ, Kate wore a NZ designer—kind of.  As with the Emilia Wickstead situation, this designer was born in NZ, but has lived and worked abroad for years—this time in New York, where her company is based.  Also, this outfit is a repeat.  So again, Kate is not wearing a local NZ designer she has never worn before—and this outfit isn’t even new the way the Wickstead one was.  Also, the earrings Kate was supposed to have bought from a local NZ designer, yeah she never wore them.  So if Kate was trying to “champion local designers” she failed.  Anyway, today’s outfit was a Rebecca Taylor dark blue tweed jacket and skirt.  Kate previously wore this outfit in April 2012.  She paired today’s outfit with her Stuart Weitzman clutch, Cartier watch, and sapphire and diamond earrings.  Kate wore her hair back in a half-ponytail style this time.

Links: Articles about arrival in Sydney: Express, Daily Mail, Hello! Articles about last day in NZ: Express, Daily Mail, Hello! Getty Images pictures, more pictures. More videos of Cambs arriving and visiting Opera House.

Photo credits: First photo from twitter. Second photo from Rebecca English twitter. Third and fourth photo from G-G of NZ twitter. Fifth photo from NZ police twitter.

Kate plays cricket in heels after paying respects to earthquake victims in Christchurch with William

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Botanic Gardens, Christchurch, Cricket, Day 8, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Earthquake, Fashion, Fashion Repeat, Jewelry, Kate Middleton, Memorial, New Zealand, Prince William, Royal Tour

On Monday day NZ time—Sunday evening US ET—The Cambridges visited Christchurch.  When William and Kate arrived, they got a hongi (traditional welcome where they touch noses) from members of the Ngai Tahu at the Christchurch City Council Building where the chief told them to “Do what Princes and Princesses have always done and increase your family” (ugh).  Next, Will and Kate visited the CTV Building Memorial Park where they met the families of the 185 victims of the 6.1-magnitude earthquake that devastated Christchurch in 2011.  They also visited the Transitional Cathedral, which is made out of cardboard—the cathedral was destroyed in the earthquake.  The Cambs then went for a walkabout in Latimer Square before playing cricket.  The cricket was to promote the 2015 Cricket World Cup which will be held in New Zealand.  Kate played cricket in her heels.  Kate made some hilarious faces when William sent the ball flying past her head.  Then she wagged her finger at him, which was equally as funny—and completely necessary; Will must have thought he was playing baseball given the way he hurled that thing at her head.  Will also made some crazy faces when hitting the ball when it was his turn at bat (is that the correct language for cricket?).  Will and Kate met five sets of twins—I’m not sure why other than that they were there.  Kate and William then opened the new Visitor’s Center in the Botanic Gardens before attending a Future Focus event at the Wigram Air Force Museum.  William gave a speech; then he and Kate unveiled a plaque at the Royal New Zealand Air Force memorial.

Kate wore a red Luisa Spagnoli skirt suit with a black belt that has a bow at the front (£495/~$830).  The outfit is a repeat; she previously wore this to an appearance at St. Andrew’s in February 2011.  For that appearance she paired the skirt suit with a black turtleneck, black boots, and black pantyhose.  For this appearance in Christchurch, Kate wore the suit with black pumps and clutch.  She also wore her Cartier watch and Annoushka pearl drop earrings.  Supposedly this outfit was in tribute to the area, as their local colors are red and black.  I like this silhouette.  This pencil skirt situation is what a lot of people have been saying she needs to do more of to prevent more “Marilyn Moments”.  I think she looks rather sophisticated in this outfit.  The styling is way better than the previous time she wore this suit.  Before she looked kind of tacky, but this time it looks much sleeker.

Kate’s hair was pulled back in a half-ponytail situation.  I’m a fan of the half-ponytail look for Kate; I think it’s a middle ground between what I want and what she wants.  I want her hair pulled off her face and out of the way for when she’s speaking, and bending and talking to people.  She wants her security blank around her at all times.  The half-ponytail gets the front bits out of her face, but leaves the back down so she feels comfortable. However, due to wind and playing cricket her hair got blown around and messy, which is a shame.

While at the Air Force Museum, William revealed to Peter Townsend—chief executive of Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce—that William would like to get a commercial pilot’s license.  Ugh.  William needs to stop effing around and get on to full-time royal duties.  Also, if he wants to get his commercial pilot’s license he better tell his granny to force whatever agency gives out commercial pilot’s licenses to overlook William’s corrective lenses.  Seriously though, why does William want to be Mike Middleton when he can be Prince Charles?  Why is it that William seems to want to do anything other than become a full time royal?

Tuesday (NZ time) was another private day for William and Kate—how many do they have on this tour?  However, the Cambs are dining with the NZ Prime Minister, John Key, and his family for their final dinner in NZ.  They travel on Wednesday (NZ time) to Australia.  They have a few things planned—like public drives and such—before they leave Wellington in the afternoon.  I’m not sure how many photos we will get of that because the press pack has already moved to Sydney.  We will hopefully get some new photos of Prince George when the Cambs arrive in Sydney—I need more photos of the grumpy face.  The Cambs will attend a reception at the Opera House once they arrive in Sydney.

I am curious to see the size of the crowds in Oz. The crowds in NZ have been fairly large. I’m only bringing this up so I have an excuse to make a new paragraph and point to this picture: wizard!

Before I wrap up, I would like to point out this Mirror article by FleetStreetFox titled, “The Royals are a virus capable of causing a deep and persistent irritation.”  It’s hilarious and amazing and well worth a read.

Links:  Palace’s website article.  Express article about visit.  ITV article.  NZ Herald article.  Hello! article.  Daily Mail article about visit.  A really sycophantic Daily Mail article about Kate’s outfit comparison. Getty Images pictures.

Photo credits: First and second photo from G-G on NZ twitter.

Royal Tour Day 7: Church, rugby, wine tasting, and white water rafting

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Church, Day 7, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Dunedin, Fashion, Jewelry, Kate Middleton, Maori, New Zealand, Pleating, Pregnancy Rumor, Prince William, Queenstown, Rippa Rugby, Royal Tour, Shotover Jet, Silver Fern Brooch, Single White Female-ing, Skinny Jeans, Wedges of Doom, Wine Tasting

Kate and William visited Dunedin and Queenstown for the 7^th day of their tour.  While it took place on Saturday for me, it was Sunday to them (NZ is 16 hours ahead of where I am), so they started the day by going to church.  Apparently it is normal for royals to attend church while on tour, but it still seems odd to me to see the Cambridges going to church not on Christmas or for some other special occasion, because they are not regular church goers.  After church they did a mini-walkabout where Kate rebuffed someone’s compliment.  It’s always annoying to me when people do this, because usually they’re fishing for more compliments.  Not saying that’s what Kate did here, but people in general do this all the time and it’s annoying.  Next the Cambridges went to Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin and “coached” two teams of children aged five to seven in Rippa rugby (a non-contact form of rugby where the players wear flags on a belt and the other players have to rip it off, instead of tackling them).  William’s team won, 30-20.  After the game, William and Kate handed out medals to the winning team.  After the rugby, the Cambs flew to Queenstown where they attended a wine tasting/tour of the vineyard and then went on a Shotover jet ride—which is some sort of high speed boat ride on a river; check out their website for further details.

FYI, on the RNZAF flight from Wellington to Dunedin, the royals flew with the entire press pack.  The royals of course stayed in front with a curtain blocking them from the press, but still, it happened, which is kind of funny/cool.  When the Cambs landed in Dunedin, they were met with bagpipes (there is a large Scottish population in Dunedin) and a Powhiri (a traditional Maori welcome) from the Ngai Tahu tribe—which is the main Maori tribe on the South Island.  The Powhiri included chanting and a hongi (where they touch noses) with the members in attendance.  Prince George got more gifts; this time it was some books from a five year old (who got a hug from Kate), and an albatross feather from a seven year old.

To church, Kate wore a teal Emilia Wickstead dress with pleating and a square neckline.  Kate kind of went with a New Zealand designer this time—Wickstead is a New Zealander—but I’m not sure it really counts because Wickstead is based in London and Kate has worn her before, and so it’s not like Kate chose some local designer to wear for the first time.  Kate wore a Jane Taylor custom hat in the same teal color.  She also wore her Emmy pumps and clutch in the what-we-thought-was-green-but-turned-out-to-be-carbon color she wore on St. Patrick’s Day.  She brought out the Queen’s diamond silver fern brooch again.  Kate’s hair was covering it in a lot of the shots, but it was there.  I really like that brooch.  As for earrings, Kate wore her round Kiki McDonough green amethyst earrings.  I have to say, I love this color, but I’m not sure I’m in love with the dress.  I think this dress is better than the coats she’s worn the last week, but to me the square design and pleating make her look boxy and bigger in the middle than she is.  Seriously, front pleating doesn’t look good on anyone.  But other than that, the silhouette and color are great.  If I had to pick best outfit so far, this one wins.

For rugby, Kate changed into navy skinny jeans (jeggings?) and a white Jonathan Saunders sweater and sneakers.  For the wine tasting, the Wedges of Doom were back, as was the Zara jacket (with all those buttons) from Day 6.  She paired them with a blue and white checked button-down shirt.  For the boat ride she changed back into the sneakers and threw on a waterproof jacket.

Something that happened Day 6 I believe, but didn’t come out until Day 7, is that the Cambs were given a blanket made by a NZ woman (it was commissioned by the NZ government as the official gift) and upon accepting the gift, William is reported as saying, “You might have to make another one soon.”  This sent people into a tizzy thinking that William was hinting that Kate is already pregnant with baby #2.  But I guess now the woman is denying he said “soon” and really said “sometime”.  But then everyone was waiting to see if Kate drank any of the wine—she reportedly did—and of course the Shotover Jet is not allowed for pregnant women, so… crisis averted?  Stand down all you #GreatKateWait-ers out there, false alarm.

Here is an interesting article.  You know how people keep saying Kate is Single White Female-ing Diana with her outfits?  Well, what if Kate’s SWF-ing the Queen now?

I have to say, I’m kind of let down by this tour.  I know the schedule came out months ago, but I guess I didn’t look at it too closely because I thought they would be doing more than they are.  I mean, wine tasting and white water rafting?  How is that “official royal appearance” worthy?  That’s what people on vacation do.  It’s almost like Will and Kate are championing the NZ tourism board or something.  Kind of like how The Bachelor/Bachelorette are sponsored by the tourism boards from the cities they visit while filming.  “Will and Kate’s Royal Tour 2014, sponsored by the New Zealand Tourism Board. Only on ABC.”  And they’ve only spent a few hours each day with their “grueling” tour appearances.  I guess I just expected more.  My own fault, I suppose.

Links (there are a lot of them, sorry):  Getty Images pictures of Day 7.  Daily Mail article about Kate’s church dress.  Daily Mail article about rugby and church.  Daily Mail article about SWFing the Queen.  Daily Mail article about pregnancy rumor.  Mirror article about Kate’s church dress.  Mirror article 1 and article 2 about rugby.  Mirror article about wine tasting and jet ride.  Express article about wine tasting and boat ride.  Express article about baby rumor.  Telegraph article about arrival and church.  Telegraph article about rugby.  Telegraph article debunking pregnancy rumor. Hello! article about arrival. Hello! article about rugby.

Photo credits: First and second photo from Governor-General of NZ twitter.

Kate wears green for visit to Cambridge, Hamilton

Tags

Cambridge, Comparisons, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Fashion, Flight Attendant, Hamilton, Jewelry, Kate Middleton, New Zealand, Prince William, Royal Tour, Royal Tour Fashion, Stewardess

On the 6^th (?) day of their New Zealand tour, Prince William and Kate Middleton visited Hamilton and Cambridge.  They flew into Hamilton and did separate visits: William went to an aerospace factory for a tour; Kate visited a children’s hospice called Rainbow Place, it was a tea party with an Alice in Wonderland/Mad Hatter theme.  Next they visited Cambridge—named after the second Duke of Cambridge, George William Frederick Charles, Queen Victoria’s first cousin (someone mentioned that there are three future king’s names in there, and that just shows you how unoriginal the British royals are with their naming).  There was a rather large crowd at Cambridge, estimated between 10,000-15,000—the town’s population is 18,000.  William and Kate had lunch in the town hall and chatted with the crowd; then they laid two roses on a war memorial.  Next, they opened the Avantidrome.  They were gifted with a child’s bike and helmet for George (kid is cleaning up with the gifts).

Kate wore an emerald-green Erdem coat.  She accessorized with black pumps and a black clutch.  She wore her Cartier watch and emerald and diamond earrings.  I have to say, I’m happy she didn’t wear a belt.  The coat is a bit looser through the midsection and Kate’s MO is to belt coats like that.  I’m glad she didn’t.  I like this coat.  The color is great on her.  I’m not sure I like the zipper, but whatevs.  I think I like her other two green coats better, though.

A crowd member complemented Kate on the coat and Kate said she liked it but “Prince William thought it was a bit bright.”  Ugh.  First, take a seat, William.  Second, why does Kate respond to things by bringing William into the response?  Why didn’t she just thank the lady instead of telling William’s opinion of it?  I don’t even understand how William’s opinion of the coat is relevant when someone gives Kate a compliment about it.  I think it says something that the first thing to come to Kate’s mind is William’s opinion.  Girl, get him out of your head and be your own person.

Here’s something funny, though.  Every coat Kate has worn during this tour has been compared to a flight stewardess outfit.  Check it out:

Kate with the Qantas ladies and the ladies of Virgin Air

Kate with the girls of Pan Am

Kate with the girls of Aer Lingus

I didn’t come up with any of these comparisons, those credits go to Niraj Tanna, Lola Heart, and Matilda so Blue, respectively. I’m just posting them to get other people’s thoughts.

Links:  Video of Will opening the Avantidrome. 3news article with a great video they won’t let me post. Daily Mail article. Mirror article 1 and article 2.

Kate beats William 2-0 in sailing during visit to Auckland

Tags

Auckland, Boring, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Fashion, Fashion Repeat, Kate Middleton, New Zealand, Prince William, Royal Tour, Royal Tour Fashion, Sailing, Skinny Jeans, Wedges of Doom

Kate and William ventured to Auckland for Day Whatever of their tour.  They touched down at the RNZAF base and greeted some military families.  Then they met some of the crowd waiting outside the harbor.  Then they raced each other around Auckland Harbor on America’s Cup ships.  They did two races, Kate won both of them.  William wasn’t too thrilled.  He claimed to have been sabotaged and when he learned Kate was pleased with her victory he said, “I bet she was.  Selfless husband—I wanted a quiet night.”  I don’t even know what that means, but William does seem like the type to not be happy if his wife outshown him in something.  Kate sailed when she was younger, and did really seem to get into the sailing; maybe she’s just better than him.  I will say this, Kate does seem to come alive when there are sports involved.  I keep saying that she should do more sports-related charity patronages, but for whatever reason she seems to stick to children’s hospices—even though she can’t pronounce palliative correctly.

Apparently a lot of mothers are throwing their baby daughters at Prince George.  There was a reported incident of this yesterday, and William joked today about regularly being offered potential partners for George.  Is this sad to anyone else?  I understand that these mothers are probably joking, but they’re also not joking if you know what I mean.  At least some part of them is serious about marrying their daughter off to a prince or else they wouldn’t be suggesting it, even in jest.  I feel like Carole Middleton would have been one of these mothers who “jokingly” offered her daughter up to a prince, and we all know how that turned out.  Makes me sad for those poor little girls.

Kate mentioned to one of the military wives/mothers that when George was younger, William was away a lot.  That would have been when William was still pretending to work for the RAF and Kate was in London or at her parent’s house, right?  Hm… I wonder how much he’s around now. William also mentioned to someone that George first slept through the night when he was five months old, and that before then it was really difficult. Maybe that’s why he was away so much when George was so young, to get away from a crying baby and get some sleep?

An interesting thing that happened, there was a small protest during the Cambridge’s visit.  A plane carrying a sign that said, “Time for a Kiwi head of state”, flew overhead during the visit.  Hilarious.

Another interesting thing, it has been raining pretty much the entire time the Cambridges have been in New Zealand.  In Auckland, it was sunny… until the Cambs showed up.  Is it just me or could this be some sort of sign?  Like the universe doesn’t want Will and Kate to be in NZ or something?  I don’t know, something to think about.

Now for fashion.  Ugh.  The Wedges of Doom are back.  So are Kate’s awful skinny jeans.  I don’t understand why pretty much every “dressed down/sporty” outfit Kate wears is almost the exact same, down to the skinny jeans and wedges.  She changes up the jacket, but even the shirt is the same and/or similar.  Don’t believe me?  Check out these outfits:  One, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight.  Girl, you need to get a new outfit.  Anyway, for this outing, Kate wore a double breasted Zara jacket in navy ($139).  It has a lot of buttons.  Kate also wore a cobalt and white striped shirt from Me and Em (£38/$68) that she’s worn before.  She wore her Stuart Weitzman Corkswoon wedges.  Eh, nothing special, we’ve seen this look a lot before.  Kate’s gotten really slim again.  She’s dropped a lot of weight in the last few months.  She’s wasn’t this thin during her three appearances in February was she?  I don’t remember her being so thin then.  Anyway, her thinness is highlighted by her skinny jeans, which is probably why she wears them.  Kate also wore her round Kiki McDonough earrings and her Cartier watch.  Isn’t that thing 6K?  I wouldn’t wear a 6K watch to go sailing, but sure, go ahead Kate.

PS. George got another gift.

PPS. Rebecca Deacon!

Links:  Express article.  Daily Mail article.  Telegraph article about sailing.  Telegraph article about George’s suitors.  Popsugar article.

Photo credit: Governor-General of NZ twitter.

Kate bores in Jenny Packham to unveil portrait of the Queen, William gives a speech

Tags

Boring, Dolly Curls, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Fashion, Government House, Kate Middleton, New Zealand, Portrait, Prince William, Reception, Royal Tour, Royal Tour Fashion, Speech, The Queen, Wellington

After their trip to Blenheim, Prince William and Kate Middleton went back to Wellington where they attended a reception at Government House.  They unveiled a new portrait of the Queen—which is not particularly striking, in fact it looks kind of terrible to me; the face looks nothing like Her Majesty and the right hand looks like it belongs on the Silence (Doctor Who).  William gave a speech—he spoke a little Maori at the beginning and end.  I have to say, I and many others give Kate a lot of crap when it comes to her speech-giving skills, but William isn’t much better.  He basically reads the speech from the script, and because of that his jokes are pretty stilted and aren’t that funny.  To me, any sincerity goes out the window when one reads from a script the way William and Kate do.  The words are kind of meaningless because anyone could have written those words, and if one isn’t even willing to take the time to learn the speech, then how am I supposed to take that person seriously when they say those words?  Anyway, moving on.

I was going to tag this bit onto my previous post, but I didn’t want to sully the praise I had for Kate’s day outfit.  This reception is one of the fancier/glitzier events the Cambridges have on their schedule (even though it isn’t even full-length gown worthy, let alone tiara worthy), and Kate was supposed to wow us.  But instead she showed up in one of the most boring outfits she’s worn.  I mean, I get that, yay she wore New Zealand’s fern on her dress, but damn is that outfit boring.  She wore a boring black Jenny Packham cocktail-length dress with hand-stitched silver beading on her left shoulder representing the silver fern—New Zealand’s national emblem. Again with a non-New Zealand designer.  She wore her black Jimmy Choo pumps and carried a black clutch.  She wore her hair down in her normal dolly curls.  She did her makeup the same way she always does it.  She wore her diamond cluster earrings and bracelet that are supposedly a wedding gift.  This outfit is just so boring.  The reporters are all saying how “dazzling” and “glitzy” this outfit is… No, no it’s not.  This is super boring.  There is nothing dazzling or glitzy about this outfit.  I really liked her day outfit, though, much more than this one.  I’m just going to forget this reception outfit and focus on the day outfit.

Links:  Express article.  Daily Mail article 1 and article 2.

Photo credits:  Photo from G-G of NZ twitter.

Kate and William visit Blenheim, lay wreath at WWI memorial, meet Peter Jackson

Tags

Blenheim, Blenheim War Memorial, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Fashion, Kate Middleton, Memorial, New Zealand, Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, Peter Jackson, Ponytail, Prince William, Red Baron, Royal Tour, Royal Tour Fashion, Walkabout, World War I

Huzzah! Kate wore her hair up! Kate and William flew to Blenheim on New Zealand’s south island for day 4 of their tour. They attended an event commemorating the centennial of the start of World War I at the Blenheim War Memorial. They laid a wreath on the memorial and met with veterans (from WWII, there are no surviving veterans from WWI). The wreath had a note attached reading: “Never forgetting those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.” It was signed, William and Catherine. Afterwards, the Cambridges did a walkabout and met with a bunch of fans who came out to see the couple.  Predictably, the crowd was more interested in Kate and the people who got William were screaming for Kate.  Also, Kate received a Princess Diana Ty Beenie Baby from a member of the crowd.  They were a limited release thing after Diana’s death in 1997—I have one, or had one at some point; don’t know where it is now.

Before I get to their next appearance, I must say I am so envious of Kate during their second visit in Blenheim.  Kate got to meet (and be filmed by!! – Granted it was just on his phone, but still) Peter Jackson.  He’s one of my director crushes.  I love him, and am so totally envious that she got to meet him.  The only thing that would make me more envious would be if they had been at Hobbiton.  For those that don’t know, Peter Jackson directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy.

Anyway, after the War Memorial and walkabout, William and Kate went to the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre where they viewed the “Knights of the Sky” exhibition—a collection of 20 World War I aircraft collected by Jackson and displayed in dioramas depicting scenes from the conflict.  William got to climb inside a Sopwith Pup biplane and check it out.  Kate didn’t get to get in the cockpit—which would have been difficult for her anyway in her skirt/coatdress—but she peered inside and asked what all the levers did.  It’s kind of lame that only William got to get in the plane; that would have been a cool experience.  William was given the chance to get into the German Fokker triplane (most famously flown by the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen), but William declined, saying, “I’m not climbing into a German plane.”  Um, sure, the German’s were the enemy in WWI, but… your ancestors were German, William, and your name is only Windsor because they changed it from the previous German name (during WWI, incidentally), so take a seat; take several seats.

As far as fashion goes, Kate wore a customized coat dress in a light blue color from Alexander McQueen.  The two coats that are similar cost about $4,000, but with all the customization Kate’s must have cost much more.  Kate wore some sort of dark blue skirt underneath that is visible when she’s walking.  She accessorized with a navy Stuart Weitzman clutch (£245/~$412) that she’s carried before, and her blue suede heels she’s worn before.  By the way, and I’m not the only one who’s noticed this, why hasn’t Kate worn a New Zealand designer yet? I was expecting her to wear a NZ designer first thing and was shocked that the first dress she wore (after the initial arrival dress) was by an American designer. Anyway, Kate wore her sapphire and diamond earrings—that are supposedly Diana’s sapphires that have been repurposed for Kate.  And…. Dun dah dah dah, she wore a ponytail!  She put her hair up for an appearance, yay!  She looks so great with her hair up.  In fact, I really love Kate’s whole outfit, I think she looks great.  Her posture is terrible, though.  But overall, Kate looked good.

Links:  More videos of the Cambs at the war memorial here and here.  Daily Mail article about war memorial.  Daily Mail article about aviation museum.  Mirror article.  Telegraph article about walkabout.  Telegraph article about museum.  Express article. NZ Herald story.

Photo credits:  First photo from Rebecca English twitter.  Second photo from Governor-General of NZ twitter.

Kate, William and George land in Wellington to start their 3-week tour

Tags

Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Fashion, Jewelry, Kate Middleton, Maori, New Zealand, Prince George, Prince William, Royal Tour, Royal Tour Fashion, Wellington

Prince William and Kate Middleton, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have officially landed in New Zealand—along with their son, Prince George—to start their three week tour of NZ and Australia.  They landed in Sydney first; then took a plane to Wellington.  They then went to the Government House for a ceremonial welcome including a Maori Powhiri and a 21 gun salute. Kate meeting the Governor-General and his wife; Kate meeting the Maori performers.

Kate arrived in Sydney wearing a grey Max Mara dress (£310/$513) she’s worn previously to an appearance at Hope House in February 2013.  Kate also wore Manolo Blahnik heels in beige ($595).  They are a smaller heel than she usually wears.  I like it.  Hopefully we’ll see those again.

Kate made a costume change between Sydney and Wellington.  When she touched down in Wellington Kate wore a red Catherine Walker coat, with a red dress underneath, and a red Gina Foster pillbox hat.  She also was back to her super high black heels she’s worn a lot.  Kate also wore a diamond and platinum silver fern brooch, which is from the Queen’s collection and was a gift from NZ from her tour in 1954. I’ll start with something nice: I love the color on her.  I do like her in red.  Now, before I get into all the air stewardess jokes, I have to say… BUTTONS!!!  It’s attack of the buttons with that coat.  I didn’t notice them at first, but when I saw a full shot all I could see was buttons, and now I can’t see anything else.  They are so large, and there are so many of them.  Of course, Kate is getting a lot of comparisons to air stewardesses… because there is a striking similarity.  Or she could have just been trying to copy Diana (again). Or she was channeling Jackie.  Take your pick, I guess.  Kate’s skirt flew up in the wind, again.  It was a good thing she was wearing the coat or else the skirt underneath really would have gone flying—it was trying to.  You can see it in the video (posted below).  She never learns (or maybe she thought she was safe while wearing the coat).  I have to say, if it weren’t for the matching hat, and those awful buttons, it would have been a nice coat.  But the shoulder pads, those terrible buttons, and the matching hat make her look like she’s wearing a bad costume from the set of Pan Am (disregarding that they wore blue).  So close Kate, so close. OH! Something else nice: Kate wore her hair in a half-updo. Her bangs still got in the way, but it was better than wearing it down. I like the half-updo on her.

George looked adorable, but I can’t help but think he was probably over the whole thing.  It was a 25-27 hour flight, right?  He was probably grumpy.  He looked grumpy, and he was moving around and trying to escape Kate’s grasp.  Poor thing.  That flight really must have disrupted his schedule.  BTW, we got an image of his nanny, Maria.

Links:  Daily Mail article.  Other Daily Mail article.  Express article.  Getty Images pictures.  ITV articles. Daily Telegraph Australia article. WhatKateWore. Photo is a screen grab from the livefeed.

Last minute updates before Will and Kate start their tour

Tags

Ayers Rock, Diana, Diana Comparison, Kate Middleton, Maori, Prince William, Royal Tour

Before I go ahead with my post, I would like to make a site-related comment.  If I’ve done everything correctly, you should have already been redirected from my WordPress-hosted site, katemiddletonreview.wordpress.com, to my new self-hosted site, katemiddletonreview.com.  This new self-hosted site has all the content from the WordPress site.  Everything is the same, except it is self-hosted on its own domain.  Oh, and I changed the theme.  I got tired of the old one.  I will leave the WordPress site up, and will continue to post on it, as I transition to the new self-hosted site.  Anyone who followed my WordPress site, I would ask to follow this one now instead.  There is a “follow” button in the bottom right corner.  I hope this transition goes over well.  I appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience.

The rest of this post will cover some random bits ahead of the start of the Cambridge’s tour of Australia and New Zealand.  The Cambs arrive in New Zealand on April 7^th around noon, but with the time difference it will be tonight (April 6^th) for me.  It has been a bit ridiculous with the pre-tour coverage.  Anything to fill space and get clicks I suppose.  It’s not like Will or Kate has done anything recently.  I guess Will did attend a statue unveiling with the Queen and Philip (how great does the Queen look, by the way), but Kate hasn’t done anything except shop in a while.

First, there is an article from the Telegraph about the Maori dancers that will greet Will and Kate when they arrive.  According to the article, the female dancers who are usually topless for special occasions such as this will cover up their breasts, and the male dancers who usually do not wear underwear will wear black underwear.  It is tradition for the women to go topless and the men not to wear anything under their flax skirts.  The dancers have apparently been instructed to cover up so they don’t “embarrass” Will and Kate.  While I can understand the decision, I think having the dancers cover up is dumb.  The topless dancers are a tradition in the Maori culture, and it’s rude to force them to change.  I understand the “blushes” thing and not embarrassing guests, but it is also important to respect different cultures and their traditions.

Here is a Katie Nicholl (via the Daily Mail) article about how Kate is totally the new Diana.  This time it’s because Kate is taking an interest in helping sick children by being the patron of children’s hospices—even though Kate can’t say the word palliative correctly.  They really need to stop with the Diana comparisons; all it does is make Kate look bad.  I am kind of surprised that Kate seems to focus so much attention (it’s not that much, but compared to her other charities, it is a lot) to the children’s hospice thing.  I never do get a sense that Kate really connects to the children or anything, and it’s not like she really lights up when doing the children’s hospice thing like she does when she’s doing something sports related.  I kind of feel like the children’s hospice thing was something chosen for her—possibly in an attempt to make her seem more like Diana?—than something she chose for herself.

According to the Mirror, Will and Kate will be spending a night in a luxury tent at Ayers Rock (also known as Uluru) when they visit.  Not going to lie, that actually sounds kind of cool.  Add that to the list of things to do if I ever visit Oz.  BTW, Charles and Diana also visited Ayers Rock during their 1983 tour—because Will and Kate must recreate that trip to gain public support, right, because Kate’s the new Diana.

That’s all for this post.  New posts happening later today when the Cambs arrive in NZ.

Kate went shopping at the Gap

Tags

Andy Bell, Baby Clothes, Boomf, Gap, James Middleton, Kate Middleton, Marshmallow, Shopping, Tsar Nicholas Middleton

Kate was spotted shopping at the Gap the other day.  The Gap store is 500 yards from her Kensington Palace apartment.  She had someone drive her there and wait outside, on a double yellow line, for 20 minutes while she shopped.  There were three bodyguards with her.  She bought clothes for George, and a couple pairs of pants for herself–because she can’t go into a store with a women’s section and not buy herself something.  Obvs.

Honestly, I’m not going to begrudge Kate shopping for some relatively inexpensive baby clothes.  Babies go through a lot of clothes, and they grow out of them so fast that spending a ton of money on designer baby clothes is stupid.  The only time I could see spending a lot on baby clothes is if it’s for an official photo or something, but if it’s for everyday, then there’s no point.  I think it’s dumb when celebs dress their kids in designer baby clothes (I’m looking at you Victoria Beckham and Kim Kardashian), so no hate for Kate’s Gap baby clothing choices.

Now, as far as having someone drive her there when it’s only 500 yards from her house… I would do it, too.  No shade for not wanting to walk, especially if she would have had to cross a major street (I don’t know the layout of the area so I don’t know if she had to cross a major street or not).  If the driver was stopped at a no-parking area and idling as to technically not break the law, then that’s kind of a jerk move.

Kate also was seen shopping at Zara on March 27, according to this article and some people on Twitter.

In other Middleton news, if you want a laugh, check out the pictures of Tsar Nicholas Middleton with his marshmallows in this Evening Standard article.  I have to say, after reading the article, I kind of don’t hate James.  The things he says kind of make sense and I can empathize with the dyslexia.  I have to admit, when I first heard about the marshmallow business I thought it was ridiculous, but upon further thinking I can kind of see it being a thing–a niche thing, but it has it’s place.  It would be an interesting gift for baby showers or weddings or bachelorette parties–except that they say they don’t do dirty things, but if they opened that up I could totally see these being a bachelorette party type favor. I do find it interesting that James’ Boomf partner, Andy Bell, butted his way into the interview. The reporter says, “Bell has insisted on being present while I interview Middleton. Either Bell doesn’t trust me or he doesn’t trust Middleton.” I think there is a third option, Bell wants some attention. It may have been James’ idea to put the photos on marshmallows, but it is Bell’s technology that started the printing company. Maybe Bell just wanted to make sure he got credit? Or Bell is kind of famewhorey.