From wearing Princess Diana’s favourite tiara to her new soft-fringed short hairdo, the Duchess of Cambridge’s usual high-street aesthetics have been subtly shifting.
Still, it was no surprise when Kate Middleton, 33, turned up to a children’s charity drum circle in North London, wearing her favourite McQueen duds— a red pleated skirt dress, and classic black heels.
The £1,195 long-sleeved dress is from Alexander McQueen’s Autumn 2011 collection and has been worn by Middleton to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and while hosting a dramatic arts reception in Buckingham Palace in 2014.
Middleton was visiting the Anna Freud Centre, a charity and treatment facility for children with mental health issues. There, she revealed that she wasn’t really of the percussion persuasion.
In a drum circle with kids, the royal elected not to place the goatskin drum between her legs, which everyone else had done to play Queen’s "We Will Rock You."
Her fellow drummers noticed the Duchess’ dress was less than ideal for the jam session. Capone Duggan-Samuels, 12, was sitting beside Middleton.
"Unfortunately, it wasn't easy for her to hold the drum properly because she was in a dress,” Duggan-Samuels told the Telegraph. “She was holding it by her side. But she was making the right sounds."
In spite of her difficulties, Peter Fonagy of the Anna Freud Centre told the Telegraph the Duchess and the children shared a special connection, then commended her for being the first royal to advocate for children’s mental health.
"The last visit had a deep impression on her and she remembered the kids as someone she knew and recognised,” Fonagy said. “They all think she's fantastic, she's their princess. And they all wanted to give her a hug."
Middleton clearly holds the Anna Freud Centre dear; her first public visit since the birth of daughter Princess Charlotte was to the Anna Freud Centre’s educational programs.
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