Kate Middleton’s glamour has evolved a lot over the years, especially since the Princess of Wales initially joined the royal family. After all, if you want to join one of the most high-profile families in the entire world, you’re going to have to look the part at least to some extent. However, Kate’s outfit for the 2025 Royal Garden Party suggests that she’s not that interested in furthering her fashion legacy — it may even land on the list of Kate’s most embarrassing makeup fails as a royal too. The future queen consort usually stuns, which makes it all the more confounding when her products appear uncharacteristically caked-on, which is exactly what happened here.

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Not only that, but this year’s Royal Garden Party marks yet another instance of Kate Middleton recycling outfits for public events, as she previously wore almost the exact same all-yellow ensemble for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. While there’s obviously nothing wrong with running back an ensemble, this one wasn’t worth dusting off, and is unlikely to impress those who have come to expect cutting-edge fashion statements from the royals. On that note, the princess’s tendency to go back to the well on certain looks hasn’t gone unnoticed by royal watchers. Looking on social media, you’ll find that many have dubbed Kate either the “Queen” or “Princess of Rewears.” Whether that’s a good thing or not is entirely up to you.

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Of course, while some more persnickety royal watchers take issue with Kate Middleton rewearing outfits like she did at the 2025 Royal Garden Party, we wonder if the Princess of Wales taking a more practical approach to her wardrobe is really such a bad thing. After all, most people do have a set rotation of clothes they wear (and maybe add a new item to every so often). Kate can almost certainly afford to buy a new outfit for every public engagement, but she shouldn’t necessarily have to. Rather, the princess seems content to simply modify pieces that are already in her closet when the need arises. In fact, in late 2024, the Telegraph’s fashion director Bethan Holt actually praised the Princess of Wales for her approach during an interview with People. 

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“I think she is trying a more sustainable way of dressing. She already has a vast and extensive wardrobe, so why shouldn’t she be looking for ways to take existing pieces and re-imagine them?” Holt argued, adding that Kate’s commitment to sustainability is very in line with husband Prince William’s dedicated environmentalism. A royal source echoed this sentiment in early 2025, telling The Times, “There is an absolute feeling that it [the public work] is not about what the princess is wearing. [Kate] wants the focus to be on the really important issues, the people and the causes she is spotlighting.” The insider also pointed out that while personal style is understandably important to a lot of royal watchers, they should consider the substance, too.

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