How William and Kate have quietly revolutionised the way senior royals dress

The word disruptor doesn’t instantly spring to mind in the context of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Yet in the 13 years since their engagement, Kate and Wills have quietly revolutionised the way senior royals dress, honing a modern royal style strategy that makes them and their three photogenic children both charmingly traditional and highly relatable. 

Despite the careful colour coordination at work in all the Waleses’ family walkabouts – including Easter Sunday’s rhapsody in blue – William remains the embodiment of normcore although if he absolutely must, he can scrub up well for a Bafta red carpet or a royal procession. The Princess, meanwhile, is the always appropriately dressed mum of three who shows other mums how to make M&S look aspirational by getting it altered to fit properly and ensuring her hair and make up are as glossy as they are when she’s in Alexander McQueen. 

William may not share either of his parents’ interest in clothes, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have Views. It was William, sensitive to charges of extravagance, who encouraged Kate to adopt a high/low approach to fashion. Mixing high street with designer played well to the frugally minded as well as adding a degree of interest for royal watchers who can now share and comment on the pictures of the royals that whizz onto websites and social platforms the moment they leave the house. 

None of this has been lost on the other royals who are (mostly) as keen as the King and Prince of Wales to ensure there is no significant seepage of popularity in the coming years. In their different ways, they’ve all been taking notes from the Waleses for years. 

The power of charming, traditionally dressed children

The Wales children mostly look as though they’ve stepped out of the 1950s – and against all reason, even republicans wilt.

In the face of mass logo-isation, the three Waleses’ shorts, smocking and Start-Rites have sparked a mini revival in traditional childrenswear. Case in point: last Sunday, Louis wore shorts and a tie from El Corte Inglés and Charlotte was in tights, Mary Janes and a floral Rachel Riley dress. 

Lena and Mia Tindall did a  more modern spin on royal children’s style – their frocks are from Reiss. Although it might seem less exclusive than the oh-so-English Rachel Riley, the upscale high street chain isn’t cheap. Mia’s dress, at £84, actually cost more than Princess Charlotte’s blue Rachel Riley but no matter.

Keep it real

The Tindalls are the royals’ riposte to republicans, in much the same way that Kate wearing skinny jeans to play basketball or William and George having a father-son day out at the football in coordinating jumpers, as they did on Saturday, piques the interest of most of us. Now that the Waleses are second-in-line to the throne, it’s more often down to Zara and Mike to pick up the “we’re just like you” schtick; if the Tindalls are there, and Mike’s making a joke with the crowds, as he did on Sunday, the royals really do seem, if temporarily, an almost normal family.  

Go viral by colour-coding your outfits

On Sunday, the senior royals (King Charles, Queen Camilla, Princess Anne and the Waleses)  all wore blue. Less senior royals (the Duchess of Edinburgh, Zara Tindall, Princess Beatrice) were in pink. Is this a modern version of the Sumptuary Laws – the medieval legislation that regulated the fabrics and colours people wore according to their status? None of this choreography happens by accident. 

The senior women wore burgundy at Kate’s Christmas concert and green at Prince Philip’s memorial. Whatever they call their family WhatsApp groups where they plan their shades, it’s time well spent – creating a potent visual symbol of unity delights the Instagram demographic.

Small rebellions make it interesting

It took Kate the outsider years before she felt comfortably deviating from royal protocol. These days the Princess is more daring: witness the red nail varnish that on Sunday had replaced the nude pink which was the late Queen’s preferred choice.

Meanwhile the Queen Consort loves a hint of leopard print and swapped a coat for a cape last week. These small but revealing touches are widely appreciated by all but the most curmudgeonly of observers as they suggest both women are now feeling more at ease with their roles.

Humble-brag your heritage jewellery

Both the Queen and Princess of Wales have been amping up the heirloom family jewellery lately. In late March, Camilla wore the late Queen’s necklace and Queen Mother’s fabulous Art Deco Greville tiara to a state banquet in Berlin.

Meanwhile, for Common-wealth Day last month, Kate accessorised a sprigged navy silk Erdem suit, one of her most regal day looks yet, with the Prince of Wales three feathers brooch, a royal heirloom dating back to 1863, and sapphire and diamond earrings which once belonged to Princess Diana.

The regal re-wear

Kate has established herself as the queen of rewears.  Meanwhile, according to Fiona Clare, one of the Queen Consort’s small circle of trusted designers, Camilla has quietly been doing it for years, albeit in less scrutinised appearances than Kate’s. Other royals were probably all doing it in private, but these days judicious sightings of the same outfits are de rigueur. Consequently, the Duchess of Edinburgh wore a pink wool coat from 2005 on Sunday, re-styling it with her jaunty Philip Treacy hat and matching suede boots. It’s a reminder that they’re all terribly normal. Up to a point.