Kate Middleton Opened Up About Why Her Hair Is More Blonde Now

In recent months, royal fans have noticed a change in Kate Middleton's signature look. Since this summer, the Princess of Wales has been stepping out with noticeably lighter locks—and she finally weighed in on the change herself this week.

According to the Daily Mail, Kate's comments on her blonder hair came during a private chat she had. with actress Su Pollard backstage at the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Wednesday night.

Pollard shared details of the conversation, explaining that she brought up the topic of Kate's lighter hair color, telling the royal, "I like your hair, it looks a lot lighter."

According to the actress, Kate replied, "It used to be brown, but it’s gone light in the sunshine."

As the Daily Mail notes, Kate first debuted her lighter hair color after her summer holidays, which included spending time sailing around the Greek islands on a super yacht.

Although Kate did undeniably spend plenty of time in the sun this summer, Seung Ki Baek, Creative Colour Expert at RUSH HAIR, told the Daily Mail that there's definitely more at work behind her new shade than just sunshine.

"Whilst the sun isn’t the only factor to thank for Kate's new look, her transition to a honey blonde hue has instantly brightened her complexion, whilst adding depth and dimension to her naturally darker base," he explained. "Lightening the hair in the sun can occur over time, but the effect is often less dramatic than for those with a naturally lighter base."

According to the hair expert, Kate's light "bronde" look most likely involved lightening her natural base and then adding highlights for "that extra glow."

"It’s great to see Kate experimenting with warmer, brighter shades—they are a great choice to flatter her naturally cool undertones and make her green eyes pop," he added.

Although some royal fans were convinced that Kate had dyed her hair a much lighter shade than usual when she stepped out at the updated gardens at London's Natural History Museum in early September and then quickly dyed it again just a few days later when it appeared darker during an appearance at a women's rugby match celebrity hairstylist Adem Oygur told the Daily Mail that might not have actually been the case.

"It’s very normal for hair to look different depending on lighting and styling, and that’s almost certainly the case here," Oygur said of the apparent change in Kate's hair color at the time.

"At the Natural History Museum, Kate wore her hair down, with soft waves that caught the light and made her blonde highlights really shine," he explained. "At the rugby, she opted for a sleeker, pulled-back style, and the stadium lighting was much dimmer and cooler in tone. Both those factors naturally make hair appear a little darker and more uniform in color."