Kate Middleton’s office at Kensington Palace has issued a rare statement responding to backlash over the future queen’s new wardrobe policy.

On February 1, The Sunday Times’ article about the new policy—with the headline “Focus on My Work Not My Wardrobe”—detailed that Kensington Palace would “no longer release details of Kate’s outfits because she wants to concentrate on substance rather than style.”

“There is an absolute feeling that it [the public work] is not about what the princess is wearing,” a palace source told the outlet at the time. “She wants the focus to be on the really important issues, the people, and the causes she is spotlighting. There will always be an appreciation of what the princess is wearing from some of the public, and she gets that. But do we need to be officially always saying what she is wearing? No.” (For context, Buckingham Palace routinely issues details of Queen Camilla’s outfits for all of her public engagements.)

Now, following recent backlash, People reported that Kensington Palace has issued “a rare statement” about the brouhaha on February 11, with a spokesperson telling the outlet, “Over the last week, I have received numerous questions about a story regarding the Princess of Wales’ clothing and how Kensington Palace shares information about her outfits.”

“To clarify, the comments that appeared in the article were from me, not the Princess of Wales,” the statement continued. “The comments that were reported should not be directly attributed to the Princess of Wales. To be clear, there has been no change in our approach to sharing information about Her Royal Highness’s clothing.”

Backlash about the decision mainly surrounded “the Kate Middleton effect” and how, since announcing her engagement to Prince William in 2010 wearing a sapphire blue Issa wrap dress, Kate has bolstered the British fashion industry because of what she chooses to wear. The future queen is a champion of British fashion, wearing primarily British brands like Alexander McQueen, Jenny Packham, and Catherine Walker, and selling out pieces from smaller businesses—sometimes clothing, but mostly accessories. Sites like What Kate Wore focus on identifying what the Princess of Wales is wearing each time she appears in public, and, per People, “Critics also pointed out that her fashion choices not only pay homage to the legacy of Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth but also serve as an important tool for connecting with the public and should not be minimized.”

Catherine Zoraida, a British jewelry designer whose earrings Kate wears regularly, said that “the Kate Middleton effect” on her brand was “crazy,” telling The Times, “It’s something like a 500 percent lift in sales whenever she is seen in a pair of earrings. They’re not just one hit wonders, either. She looks after them well, and whenever she rewears them, there is another uplift.”

Though People reported that there is “every likelihood” that details of what Kate is wearing will be shared during significant occasions—like royal tours or when hosting visiting heads of state—it’s notable that Kate’s team didn’t share fashion credits for what she wore on her January 14 visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, her first solo royal engagement in over a year after announcing last March that she had been diagnosed with cancer. This decision may signify the way forward for the palace—sharing outfit details on the larger occasions, but choosing not to do so for week-to-week royal engagements Kate undertakes publicly as she continues her gradual return to public life.

Though outfit details weren’t shared last month, Kate continues to show support for British fashion—albeit in a different way. On January 30, she toured a family-run textiles manufacturer in Wales, “aligning with her interest in the industry,” People reported—but outfit details weren’t shared from the visit.

“When she goes to the [James] Bond premiere or is at Trooping the Colour, of course she puts on the ‘uniform’ of the role,” a close friend of Kate’s shared with The Sunday Times in 2022. “But what was enormously frustrating and difficult for her, especially in the early days, was she was going out and doing the work she was interested in and was hugely important to her, and people just talked about what she was wearing.”