Princess Kate Is Channeling Princess Anne's Signature Style in an Unexpected Way
The Princess of Wales is following in the no-nonsense Princess Royal's footsteps.
Kate Middleton won't be attending Easter services with the Royal Family on Sunday, April 20, and it sounds like she'll be trading her fascinator for a flat cap. The Princess of Wales will spend the holiday with Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis at their country house in Norfolk—and if her most recent look is any indication, she'll be kicking back in skinny jeans this weekend. The princess appeared in a video for U.K. Scouts on April 14 while wearing a tweed cap and skinny jeans, and it turns out the look echoes a surprising member of the Royal Family.
None other than Princess Anne is a big fan of the classic country hat style, as the Daily Mail pointed out, and has been spotted wearing similar baker boy caps since the early 1970s. The Princess Royal is a famed equestrian, having competed in the 1976 Olympics, and favors a relaxed country style when she's not carrying out official royal engagements in her signature chignon and polished suits.
Princess Kate wore her green tweed cap—a style that's similar to her old favorite Really Wild Clothing hat—with G-Star cargo skinny jeans and a $755 Emilia Wickstead sweater, adding the same Bella Hoskyns bomber jacket that she wore in her 2024 Mother's Day photo. The Princess of Wales finished off her look with Berghaus hiking boots as she joined Dwayne Fields, chief scout for the U.K. Scouts, and some local youngsters in England's Lake District.
The Princess of Wales, pictured with Chief Scout Dwayne Fields, recently showed off her casual country style.
Princess Anne, seen in 2016, is also a fan of a good green cap.
A look back at a 2016 photo shows Princess Anne dressed in a similar outfit while attending the Whatley Manor Horse Trials on her Gatcombe Park estate. And back in 1974, a young Anne rocked a flat cap while hanging out with brother Prince Andrew. She's worn the hat style on numerous other occasions over the years, often at equestrian events.
The Daily Mail notes that the newsboy cap style is "a core piece of English countryside fashion heritage" and has retained its popularity for more than 100 years amongst the upper class.
Kate also wore a baker boy cap during a 2013 event with the U.K. Scouts.
The Princess Royal wore another flat cap in 1974 with brother Prince Andrew.
But it isn't just Anne's favorite hat that's part of the Princess of Wales's aesthetic; Kate re-wears her outfits at royal engagements over and over, as the Princess Royal has been famously doing for decades. It's not uncommon to see Princess Anne wearing an outfit from the '70s or '80s today, just like Princess Kate was spotted in a jacket older than her marriage during a recent trip to Wales.
A Kensington Palace source recently made a statement that the Princess of Wales was keen to focus on her duties over her style, a philosophy that hard-working Princess Anne certainly shares. The Princess Royal carries out hundreds of royal engagements each year, topping much-younger royals like Princess Kate and Prince William—and in terms of people to emulate, the Princess of Wales couldn't look to a better example.
