Fashion has long been a way for mothers, daughters and sisters to connect across generations, and the Royal Family is no different. Just like Queen Elizabeth shared clothing with her little sister, Princess Margaret, and daughter, Princess Anne, Carole Middleton has been known to swap pieces with her daughters Kate and Pippa Middleton.
Carole—who turns 70 on Jan. 31—has been spotted on several occasions wearing outfits her daughters have worn (and vice versa). From elegant coats to chic dresses, the Middletons have always embraced classic styles that work just as well on a mom in her sixties as they do on younger women.
One of the first—and most well-known—examples of Kate and Carole sharing clothing is the blue Reiss dress that the then-Duchess of Cambridge wore for her first-ever public speech in 2012. It turns out the cobalt style with a wide black belt was actually worn by Kate's mother to Royal Ascot two years earlier.
Since then, Kate, Carole and Pippa have shared numerous items of clothing, including the pink Me+Em shirt dress that the Princess of Wales first wore in 2021. Royal Ascot was once again the scene of a royal re-wear for this item, with Carole stepping out in the dress to watch the horse race in 2022. Princess Kate went on to wear the dress yet again while visiting the Chelsea Flower show for another pretty-in-pink moment in 2023.
Most recently, Carole stepped out at the 2024 Together at Christmas carol concert in the same full-skirted white Max Mara coat that the Princess of Wales wore for a 2015 royal event. The mom of three has also worn the same outfits as younger daughter Pippa; she showed up in the navy-and-cream striped sweater that Pippa was spotted wearing nearly a decade earlier in a 2022 Instagram post.
Kate and Pippa have also swapped clothing in the past, sharing items like a white minidress the princess wore before she was married to William and a burgundy polka-dot Whistles shirt dress in more recent years.
The Middleton family's proclivity for hand-me-downs also extends to weddings, as James Middleton's wife, Alizée Thevenet, borrowed her mother-in-law's boho-style wedding dress for her own 2021 wedding.
The tradition of sharing clothing with family mirrors that of the late Queen Elizabeth, who often lent garments to her sister, Princess Margaret. While Margaret certainly had a different style, she mixed up her sister's items—like a kelly green coat of The Queen's she wore for a VE Day celebration in 1995—with different accessories.
As Historic Royal Palaces noted in an Instagram post about its upcoming exhibition, Royal Dress Codes, Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth also dressed alike as children, and two of their adorable Liberty-print outfits will go on display at Kensington Place in March.
Last year, Princess Anne followed her usual habit of recycling outfits, but with a sentimental twist, wearing her mother's purple Angela Kelly coat for a busy day of royal engagements. Like mother, like daughter.
