Back to her roots! Just when the general public was finally coming around to Princess Catherine’s new blond ‘do that had us feeling déjà vu, the Princess of Wales seemingly had a change of heart and promptly reverted to her traditional rich brown mane. On September 8, a very brunette Kate Middleton turned up at The National Federation of Women’s Institute in Sunningdale alongside her royal hubby, Prince William, to observe the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death. As evidenced in photos from the somber event, Kate’s hair not only appeared darker, but there was one telltale sign that she had freshly colored her hair: stains from hair dye on the skin directly beside her hairline. Although a common occurrence when having your hair colored, it can be downright pesky to remove, sometimes taking days, if not up to a week, to fully fade.

As one can imagine, once the photos surfaced, many took to all corners of the internet to discuss Kate’s apparent about-face. “The world can breathe a sigh of relief,” one X user quipped. Meanwhile, another wrote, “Good. Some brunettes can carry off a blonde look, but I don’t think Kate is one of them. Much better with her natural hair colour, IMO.” 

Following the debut of Princess Catherine’s brighter, blonder look, many theorized that she was actually wearing a wig — especially given that she had confessed to undergoing preventative chemotherapy treatments after being diagnosed with cancer. However, others thought Kate Middleton might have employed a bottle blond look to cover up pesky gray hairs. “I would guess she is going lighter to make the transition to grey hair easier in time. Blonde hair has a softer grow-out than a harsh line of permanent color leaves,” hair stylist Christen Francis of Royal Hair Chatter told Hello!. 

It’s entirely possible, however, that Middleton really just wanted to find out the answer to the age-old question: Do blondes have more fun? Given that Middleton is already back to her signature dark tresses, we probably already know the answer. So, uh, there ya have it, folks.