Barbour

Yesterday, the Prince and Princess of Wales stepped out for a “surprise” trip to Northern Ireland. There was some debate about when this visit was scheduled, and whether it came together last-minute because the Duchess of Sussex was scheduled to speak at Fortune’s summit in DC. While I think there are arguments to be made about this visit likely being on the books for weeks, let me also say that I don’t believe William and Kate have earned the benefit of the doubt. Not with how they’ve behaved in the past two months, and not after they’ve made a point of rushing around, trying to look busy whenever the Sussexes are doing anything.

Some fashion notes – for the first part of the Northern Ireland activities, Kate wore a years-old bespoke McQueen coat, one which we’ve seen her in many times. Later in the day, she removed the McQueen coat and donned her favorite Barbour jacket, which she’s also worn many times. She also wore a WNU wool cardigan which is (imo) very ugly. If the skirt looks familiar, it’s because we first saw it one month ago. It’s Ralph Lauren, and she wore it for her Scouts event with Melania Trump. It looked awful on her then and now. I think she’s trying to evoke some 1970s New England WAG vibe but it’s not working.

The Daily Mail and Mail Plus have been churning through so many “remember when” pieces in recent days, for no reason at all – there’s actual new photos and stories about the Waleses and the Sussexes, I have no idea why they’re like “hey, remember when William and Kate were thrilled when Harry and Meghan left the UK?” But that’s an actual top story in the Mail’s royals section. They also did an extremely obvious piece about how KATE is the “magical Disney princess.” Right after the British press had a meltdown over the Sussexes’ visit to Disneyland and their appearance in a pro-Disneyland program on ABC.

Here’s a video (it’s a compilation of videos) from the Waleses’ trip to Northern Ireland. In motion, you can really see that the palace gopher slapped that hairpiece onto the back of Kate’s head. It’s not blended whatsoever.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.