Kate Middleton Kicks off Garden Party Season in a Piece of British Millinery History

It’s garden party season in Britain—and Kate Middleton and Prince William were on hosting duties at Buckingham Palace.

Historically, the spring garden parties are a traditional high-summer occasion where royals meet members of the public (armed forces veterans, community pillars, charity ambassadors) to recognize and reward public service, to hear their stories, drink endless cups of tea, and eat thousands of dainty cakes and sandwiches. Every year, the royal family invites 30,000 members of the public to their garden parties, with three taking place at Buckingham Palace and one takes place at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Scotland. Friday saw the Waleses lead their first party of the season on behalf of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

While we know that rewearing her wardrobe is the name of the game for Kate Middleton, this time, she opted to pair a vintage find with a brand new dress. Catherine, Princess of Wales wore a cream and black Self-Portrait dress (one of her favorite brands), which featured a tailored, shoulder-padded wool top, a flower corsage, square neckline, and a polka-dot a-line skirt. For accessories, she opted for old and new: Queen Elizabeth’s Bahrain pearl drop earrings, a Forever New Lily woven clutch, Ralph Lauren toffee-colored Celia pumps, and a vintage hat.

Her new hat—a wide-brimmed black and cream straw design with a wide, sculptural brim and floral adornments—is a vintage number by the Vienna-born British milliner Mitzi Lorenz. The hat designer was famed through the late ’30s and ’80s in Britain for jewel-toned chapeaux and floral and bow-topped headpieces.

Lorenz began building her millinery enterprise in 1938, living in a flat above her hat shop on London’s Great Portland Street to craft a millinery empire. Under her tutulege, she propeled some of Britain’s most renowned milliners on their way, such as Frederick Fox and Rose Cory, who went on to design hats for Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family. The hat-making legend kept up her millinery practice well into old age, and died in 1999 at 88. The business has since fallen away, but Lorenz’s archival pieces can be found online—Kate’s included.

Pearls have also become a bit of a signature for Kate, often reaching for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Bahrain Pearl drop earrings, crafted from a cache of seven rare pearls that the then-Princess Elizabeth was given by the Hakim of Bahrain as a gift on her wedding day in 1947.

Kate has been a regular at the annual garden parties, but skipped out on 2024 when she was undergoing cancer treatment. She also missed previous years that quickly followed the births of Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte. In garden parties gone by, she’s often opted for re-wears of tailored dresses by Emilia Wickstead, Christopher Kane, and Alexander McQueen, with matching fascinators in springtime hues.

She and William were joined by Prince Edward, Sophie Duchess of Edinburgh, and Zara Tindall for the day.

The next garden party will take place at Buckingham Palace on May 12, with an Edinburgh fête on June 30. More parties have also been added to this year’s agenda, too: a gathering celebrating the 50th anniversary of King Charles’s foundation, The King’s Trust, and a May 19 event for The Not Forgotten, a British charity for the physical and mental health of military veterans and service members.

The princess heads to Italy next week for a two-day drip—her first official overseas engagement since entering remission for cancer one year ago. Visiting Reggio Emilia with the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, it’s been billed as a fact-finding trip to meet local parents, children, and educations and hear about the “Reggio Emilia Approach.”

“The Princess is very much looking forward to visiting Italy next week and seeing first-hand how the Reggio Emilia approach creates environments where nature and loving human relationships come together to support children’s development,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson said in a statement.

Kate Middleton, a presto!