If Kate Middleton wore an England-Wales friendship pin to watch the two countries compete at this weekend’s Six Nations match, the princess has since turned her attention towards the Irish. Kate arrived at the Irish Guards’s St Patrick’s Day parade in a bottle-green McQueen coat—the same London-based house which is now overseen by Dubliner Seán McGirr—with a Cartier-designed shamrock brooch fixed to its lapel. Despite its frequent association with the Windsors, the emerald-studded piece in fact belongs to the regiment, having been purchased from the estate of the late Princess Mary in 1965, and appears only when on loan to celebrate Lá Fhéile Pádraig.
This afternoon’s procession was a noted homecoming for Kate—who was made colonel of the regiment following the death of Queen Elizabeth II—since announcing she was in remission from cancer back in January and steadily reentering public life. “Being your colonel remains a great honor and I am very sorry that I’m unable to take the salute at this year’s Colonel’s Review,” the princess wrote in a letter while recovering from abdominal surgery last year. “Please pass my apologies to the whole regiment: however, I do hope that I am able to represent you all once again very soon.”
This year, in addition to indulging in a half of Guinness herself, Kate put money behind the bar for soldiers at the Wellington Barracks in Westminster—though not before gifting a sprig of wild shamrock to Turlough Mór (the regiment’s resident Irish Wolfhound, nicknamed Seamus), meeting with veteran troops and junior cadets, and awarding medals in recognition of long service.
It is the second time this weekend that the princess has worn McQueen, and at least the second time she has been photographed in this particular coat. In 2022, Kate opted for the same piece while visiting Boston—which has long been home to one of the biggest Irish communities in the US, arriving first as indentured servants in exchange for their passage in colonial times, before the Port of Boston became a major center of immigration during the Great Famine and beyond. Much has been said about Kate’s relationship with fashion—especially given a reported effort to shift the spotlight from her outfits to more important aspects of her engagements—and yet this moment serves as evidence that, whether intended or not, the royal’s clothing will always be parsed for symbolism.