LONDON — It’s an annual tradition for the British royals to attend the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at Royal Albert Hall to celebrate and commemorate the Armed Forces.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, who has been out of the public eye this year and only attending a few official key events, attended with her husband Prince William.
She wore a simple black coat dress from Catherine Walker, a label favored by the late Princess Diana, to the event as a means of paying respect. It’s royal protocol to wear black to Remembrance Day services and events.
Kate Middleton at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Getty Images
Kate Middleton accessorized her evening look with a black Chanel clutch; a Monica Vinader pearl necklace and Princess Diana’s Collingwood pearl drop earrings and her diamond and sapphire engagement ring that once belonged to her late mother-in-law.
The earrings were a gift to the late princess from Collingwood, a jewelry company that was the favorite of the Spencer family.
Diana often wore the pearl drop earrings to public events, such as a special performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Starlight Express” at the Apollo Theatre in London in 1984 and to an evening at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. in November 1985, a day after her famous dance with John Travolta in a Victor Edelstein gown.
Princess Diana wearing the Collingwood pearl drop earrings.
Getty Images
The late princess also liked wearing the earrings with the Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot tiara as the pearls resembled those in the tiara.
Middleton occasionally takes a leaf out of Diana’s style book and wears the tiara with the Collingwood pearl drop earrings.
She first wore the pearl drop earrings in 2017 for the banquet held at Buckingham Palace for the Spanish state visit.
Kate Middleton wearing the Collingwood pearl drop earrings in 2017 for the first time.
Getty Images
On Sunday, the Princess of Wales will accompany other members of the working British royal family at the Cenotaph war memorial in central London for the annual Remembrance Sunday service led by King Charles.
The Princess of Wales and Queen Camilla will watch the service from the balcony of the Foreign Office building in their head-to-toe black ensembles.
