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One of the great things about Princess Diana was that she was both a trendsetter and a trend-follower. She loved the “more is more” ethos of 1980s fashion and styling, and then, right on trend, she went for a cleaner, more minimalist look in the 1990s. Diana switched up her hairstyles with frequency, and so many women copied her hair. Well, the inheritor of the Princess of Wales title is also known for her style and her hair, although the comparisons between Kate and Diana have always been strained, if not completely ridiculous. Well, Kate’s big appearance today in London has got people talking about her hair/wig and what it all means. Is Kate “allowed” to change her hair color this dramatically? Is she the first brunette in her 40s to go with a lighter color? The Times of London had this piece:

On a visit to London’s Natural History Museum today, the Princess of Wales was elegantly put together as always but with one big difference. Kate has gone blonde. In truth, she’s been creeping this way for some time. At first it was “bronde”, a gentle lightening of her dark brown hair; by the time of the French presidential visit in July, it was closer to caramel; now it looks to have edged towards honey blonde. Our first glimpse of her new look came last month, when she was seen with fairer-looking hair in the car on the way to church from Balmoral, though it wasn’t clear if it was just a trick of the light. But today’s pictures are confirmation that she has definitely lightened up.

Which may seem like no news at all. It’s usual to see celebrities reveal drastic makeovers: an extreme haircut for a new film role, expensive cosmetic surgery in time for red-carpet season. Kate having a few highlights shouldn’t be a shock. But our expectations of modern royals are anything but modern.

Queen Elizabeth II set the expectations for a royal woman ageing in the public eye: to be always and instantly recognisable to your public. Camilla hasn’t changed her hair in years — it’s just a fraction lighter than it was 25 years ago, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s still using the same round brush to blow-dry those flicky-out ends. Perhaps it’s to ensure consistency on those commemorative plates. Kate was a brunette at her royal wedding, so brunette she must stay.

But she’s also part of a younger generation — mine, actually — though she may seem much more pulled together than most millennials. I was 12 when I first dyed my hair in the bathtub at home; 15 when I had blonde highlights. The temptation to go blonde is strong when pop culture and beauty ideals tell you that you’re missing something; that blondes have more fun, that gentlemen prefer them. I went blonde again in my late twenties, peroxide this time. And since the greys have started peppering my brunette hair, I’ve been discussing with my hairdresser a few honeyish streaks of my own, the better to blend in greys.

That warm, flattering, face-brightening honey shade is a go-to, almost a default, for white women in their forties, fifties and sixties, as much a hair milestone as the new-mum bob or the break-up big chop. With Jennifer Aniston as a poster girl, it’s a transition that many of Kate’s close friends will be making around her. Her mother, Carole, has slices of warm blonde in her bob.

Supporting British fashion houses boosts the economy, but it seems that public opinion deems it undignified for our royals to stray too far into vanity — as if a hair transplant for a receding royal may weaken the empire. Where do we draw the line? Will the Wales children be allowed dodgy teenage hair? Emo side-sweeps, self-cut fringes … not tattoos or piercings, surely? Where do we stand on traintrack braces — and would they be allowed to choose any colour for their elastics, or is there a pre-approved palette?

[From The Times]

Here’s the thing – no reasonable person actually *wanted* Kate to keep the same general hairstyle and color for the rest of her married life. When she brought out the doll-wig extensions in her first year of marriage, it’s like she got addicted to that particular look – the sausage curls, the volume and the length. People who actually like Kate and want her to look her best have been begging her for years to ditch the wiglets and hairpieces and just get a cute shoulder-length bob. I wouldn’t even take issue with the color – and I don’t consider this blonde, it’s caramel or bronde – specifically because this is what so many women do as they deal with grey hair, they go lighter. But they also go shorter too, which Kate seems incapable of. And just to be clear, this was not Kate sitting at a hair salon for hours to achieve this color.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.