Kensington Palace doesn't make many comments about Princess Kate's fashion, but the royal community has been buzzing this month after a palace spokesperson said Kate wanted the public to focus on her work, and not her wardrobe. A recent visit to the National Portrait Gallery—during which the princess wore neutral suit separates—seemed to emphasize that statement, and on Tuesday, Feb. 11, the royal visited a British prison in the same coat she wore a month ago.
The Princess of Wales headed to HMP Styal prison in Wilmslow, England to learn more about its mother and baby unit, and for the occasion she brought back the burgundy plaid Blazé Milano coat she debuted for her first public engagement of 2025. The bespoke piece looked ideal for bundling up on a chilly, rainy day as she ducked under an umbrella outside the prison.
Although she initially appeared to have paired the coat with the same wine-hued Kiltane turtleneck she wore for her Jan. 14 outing at Royal Marsden Hospital, her sweater looks to be a different burgundy knit with a ribbed texture.
Although Kate wore heels for her engagement at the cancer hospital, she wore some more weather-appropriate slouchy boots for Tuesday's trip to the prison. The princess also added a new (to us) pair of earrings, wearing a $1,260 vintage gold pearl cluster style. British jeweler Katherine James tells Marie Claire that while she cannot confirm she sold the style to the princess, the earrings listed on her site—made from 18-carat yellow gold and seed pearls—"were a one-off vintage pair that sold a few years ago, dating to the 1960s/1970s."
While the Princess of Wales often re-wears her outfits, it's rare for her to wear the same look less than a month after an engagement—especially when her appearances don't come around as often in the wake of her health battle.
“There is an absolute feeling that it [the public work] is not about what the princess is wearing," a place source told the Times on Feb. 1. "She wants the focus to be on the really important issues, the people and the causes she is spotlighting." The insider added that although "there will always be an appreciation of what the princess is wearing from some of the public and she gets that" the palace would not "be officially always saying what she is wearing."
"The style is there but it’s about the substance," the source concluded.
There was plenty of substance during Tuesday's visit for Princess Kate —who serves as patron of Action For Children—as she learned how the charity helped incarcerated mothers form "strong, loving and consistent mother and baby relationships." The Princess of Wales visited the prison's on-site nursery and met with a group of current prisoners to understand how Action for Children supports them and their babies.
