The Princess of Wales is one of the most talked about women in the world, particularly her style. Long before her engagement to Prince William, when she was a royal girlfriend, Kate’s girl-next-door outfits quickly garnered attention, from her Reiss and Topshop dresses to her Penelope Chilvers tasseled boots. Since then, Kate has cultivated a wardrobe that will make the history books, from her colour block coat dresses to showstopping evening gowns. And one which she may pass down to her only daughter, ten-year-old Princess Charlotte.
I sat down with HELLO!‘s Fashion and Beauty Editor, Laura Sutcliffe, to discuss five favourite fashion moments on the Princess from 2025, so far, as well as some of her all-time best looks. One of the outfits she chose is the powder blue Elie Saab two-piece Kate first wore for Royal Ascot in 2019, and then a Buckingham Palace garden party in 2023, featuring semi-sheer sleeves, pussy-bow detailing and polka dot embroidery.
I asked Laura: “With looks like this, do you think Catherine is thinking about future generations, and thinking ‘maybe I can pass this down to Charlotte?'”
Laura said: “I think she must do. Can you imagine being Princess Charlotte and having Catherine as your mother and having all of those clothes that you could borrow potentially – handbags, shoes, the incredible jewellery that’s passed down through generations?”

I agreed, and pointed out that the Danish princesses, Isabella and Josephine, are a bit older than Charlotte, but they do borrow a lot of their mother Queen Mary’s clothing. Recently, Isabella, 18, wore a pair of Mary’s Chanel two-tone ballet flats, and she previously borrowed her mother’s white Max Mara suit for her confirmation in 2022, as well as some of her designer coats. Meanwhile, Princess Josephine, 14, was seen in Mary’s rose pink Andiata coat for church in 2024.
Royal hand-me downs
The Prince and Princess of Wales’s three children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, seven, are all known to have worn hand-me downs. Several of George’s outfits have been passed down to his younger siblings, while Charlotte looked to be wearing a pair of her uncle Prince Harry’s red buckle-up shoes, on William and Kate’s royal tour of Germany and Poland in 2017.

For his Trooping the Colour debut in 2019, a one-year-old Louis sported a blue and white outfit previously worn by Harry from the 1980s. The tot was also seen wearing his father William’s sailor suit for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022.


During a trip to the Corgi factory in Ammanford, near Swansea, which specialises in handmade socks and knitwear in January, Kate revealed she “archived” all of her own children’s clothes, noting that the garments that had been well made always “wore really well”.
“It’s so lovely to reuse the things that are well made,” she said.