All Of Kate Middleton's Trooping The Colour Looks Over The Years

Each year since the 18th century, the British royal family and their subjects have gathered on a Saturday in June to celebrate the monarch's birthday with the Trooping the Colour ceremony. The event began as a way to celebrate a bygone military practice when King Charles II was on the throne, but in 1748, the event was used as a birthday party of sorts for King George II. Eventually, it was celebrated annually when King George III ascended the throne in 1760, with every subsequent monarch following suit. Interestingly, most British monarchs who've celebrated their birthday at Trooping the Colour were not actually born in June, though a few were.

Actual dates of birth aside, Trooping the Colour is a major event in the royal social calendar. It's accompanied by much fanfare and steeped in tradition, and the public looks forward to it just as much as the royals as they're included in the celebrations. The public are welcome to watch the parade as well as the soldiers' performance. 

Another exciting element of Trooping the Colour for those who don't live in England is the fashion. Each year, the Windsor women show up and show off, wearing quintessentially British ensembles that inevitably draw attention. Since 2011, the general population has been blessed by Princess Catherine's fashion choices for the event. Here are all of the Princess of Wales' Trooping the Colour looks over the years.

The year 2011 marked the first time Princess Catherine attended Trooping the Colour. The newly minted royal married Prince William just weeks before the event, making it one of the very first public appearances for the duo as a married couple. The princess stunned at the birthday party in an ivory double-breasted jacket, well-tailored, and paired with an eye-catching black hat reportedly designed by Vivien Sheriff. Underneath the hat, Catherine let her brown locks cascade as curls, offering a particularly striking contrast to the light jacket.

Princess Catherine stayed busy the entire day. After Trooping the Colour, the then-Duchess of Cambridge met with her sister, Pippa Middleton, to attend the wedding of Sam Waley-Cohen and his bride Annabel Ballin. Catherine proved her statement hat was versatile by wearing it to the wedding that evening, changing from her jacket ensemble to a black and white dress for the nuptials. Ahead of his wedding, the Daily Mail spoke with Waley-Cohen, a longtime friend of William and Catherine's, who said, "At the wedding, we'll be surrounded by all our friends and family, who have been amazingly supportive this year, and it will be a great day." No doubt, the groom must have been surprised to see the princess at his wedding as he noted he assumed the royal couple wouldn't make it due to Trooping the Colour occurring the same day.

Princess Catherine is subject to scrutiny everywhere she goes, and she's careful to avoid needless criticism by paying close attention to what she wears at annual events. For example, since she wore ivory to Trooping the Colour in 2011, she switched things up for the second time attending the celebration. In 2012, Catherine wore a custom baby blue Erdem ensemble, replete with a matching fascinator.

While Princess Catherine was sure not to repeat an outfit, Queen Elizabeth II wore the same bright yellow Angela Kelly dress that she donned for Catherine and Prince William's wedding the previous year. Although the royal family doesn't typically re-wear outfits to the same event, they are known to recycle some of their favorites for other occasions. Queen Elizabeth was likely a little preoccupied just before the 2012 Trooping the Colour as her husband, Prince Philip, was recovering from a recent hospitalization for a bladder infection.

If there's one thing the royal family has mastered, it's timing. Just when it seems things are becoming stagnant for the Windsors, someone does something that revives public interest. When the excitement over Princess Catherine and Prince William's marriage died down, the couple announced they were expecting their first child. "The British public and indeed the whole world will be delighted for the same, it keeps the monarchy going. The royal wedding brought a magic back to the monarchy and people are fascinated by William and Catherine," said royal author Robert Lacey of the news (via ABC News).

After the pregnancy announcement, fans around the world were eager to see what chic maternity attire Catherine would sport, and they weren't disappointed. The princess capped her public appearances while pregnant at the 2013 Trooping the Colour. For the event, she wore a pale pink Alexander McQueen jacket and a matching hat. The jacket featured large pearl buttons, which the royal matched with a pair of drop pearl earrings. A month later, Catherine gave birth to her firstborn, Prince George, and just days after that, she made another fashion statement by wearing a simple blue polka-dot dress to present the future monarch to the world.

Princess Catherine has a longstanding relationship with the British design house Alexander McQueen. Many of her most famous looks have been McQueen, including her wedding dress, which was designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen. "Miss Middleton chose British brand Alexander McQueen for the beauty of its craftsmanship," a royal representative said in a statement, as reported by the Daily Mail. Being asked to design the princess' wedding dress was a major honor, and Burton took the assignment so seriously that she even refrained from telling her mother about it until the public knew. "Even my mum called me and asked me: 'You would tell me, wouldn't you?'" Burton later said.

Princess Catherine's affinity for McQueen's fashion has never waned as she's donned the designer on multiple important occasions since her wedding. In 2014, the duchess wore another striking Alexander McQueen look for Trooping the Colour. Her ensemble was a gray two-piece set featuring a jacket with clasps along the front and a skirt, which she paired with a matching hat and drop earrings. By 2014, Princess Catherine had established somewhat of a uniform for herself for Trooping the Colour. Onlookers were curious to learn whether there would be a Prince George sighting that year, but since the future monarch had not yet turned one, Catherine and William chose to keep him at home for the event.

Mothers are often expected to resume regular activities quite soon after giving birth, and the same is expected of royalty. Six weeks after welcoming her second child, Princess Charlotte, Princess Catherine was back in the swing of royal duties at the Trooping the Colour. During her first public appearance after birthing a daughter, Catherine sported a blue coat dress by Catherine Walker, surprising those familiar with her former Trooping ensembles as this one had a pattern. As is typical for the event, the duchess wore a hat by Lock & Co. which reportedly cost £895.

All eyes were certainly on Catherine at that year's Trooping the Colour for obvious reasons, but it was another royal family member who stole the show. Prince George, Prince William and Catherine's eldest child and heir to the throne, attended Trooping the Colour for the first time in 2015. The outfit he wore coordinated with his mother's, but its meaning was far deeper than that. "Prince George's first appearance on the balcony wearing the same outfit his father wore at HM's Birthday Parade 1984," the royals shared on their X, formerly Twitter, account, posting a photo of Prince William holding Prince George on the balcony alongside a photo of then-Prince Charles holding a young Prince William on the balcony when he wore the outfit.

Early on in her Trooping the Colour history, Princess Catherine established a uniform for herself. One important aspect of that uniform is a hat. Hats are common accessories at many events Catherine attends, especially the more formal events. As fashion editor Hilary Alexander put it, "When it comes to a special occasion in British society, the special occasion is not complete without a hat (via ABC News). "It's part of the social fabric. For most people, the hat is quite serious and frivolous at the same time. It completes the outfit and it's a finishing touch." Some of Catherine's best hat moments have been at Trooping the Colour, like in 2016. That year, the duchess wore a Philip Treacy hat with a large rose appliqué underneath the brim. The hat made a major statement, even against her Alexander McQueen ensemble.

However, Princess Catherine does not reserve hats for Trooping the Colour. The duchess wears them for almost all formal events (unless she's wearing a tiara), as it's part of longstanding British etiquette. "Up until the 1950s ladies were very seldom seen without a hat as it was not considered 'the thing' for ladies to show their hair in public," said etiquette expert Diana Mather (via the BBC). "But all that has changed and hats are now reserved for more formal occasions."

After a couple of years experimenting with her Trooping the Colour style, Princess Catherine returned to her most common ensemble choice for the event: a monochromatic look. The duchess is a fan of monochromatic fashion, and for the 2017 Trooping the Colour, she wore a pink Alexander McQueen dress with a hat of the same hue. The royal accessorized with some lovely diamond earrings and carried a cream clutch.

The public is always interested in what Princess Catherine wears to Trooping the Colour, and 2017 was no different. But the celebrations weren't quite as jubilant that year as England suffered multiple tragedies the same month of the event, including two terrorist attacks and the Grenfell Tower fire. The royal family, though, was determined to carry on. "Put to the test, the United Kingdom has been resolute in the face of adversity. United in our sadness, we are equally determined, without fear or favour, to support all those rebuilding lives so horribly affected by injury and loss," Queen Elizabeth II said in a statement published on X.

The year 2018 proved to be another monochromatic year for Princess Catherine at Trooping the Colour. The Duchess of Cambridge once again wore an Alexander McQueen dress, this time in an icy blue, and paired it with an even more exaggerated fascinator than she's worn to the event in the past. Like usual, Catherine kept her jewelry choices simple and elegant, pairing a necklace and earrings with her stunning sapphire engagement ring.

The 2018 Trooping the Colour was memorable for the royal family as it was the first time Meghan Markle attended the event. Meghan's presence made the event stand out for the public, too, as it was the first time in many years that two prominent, young, stylish duchesses were at Trooping the Colour. 

Fashion fans were particularly excited to see what Meghan would wear. The Duchess of Sussex donned a peach dress made by Carolina Herrera, surprising some with her understated color choice, though wearing muted tones became her signature look throughout her time in the firm. Years later, on the Netflix series "Harry & Meghan," the former senior royal gave more insight into her wardrobe choices. "It was also so I could just blend in," she said. "I'm not trying to stand out here. There's no version of me joining this family and trying to not do everything I could to fit in."

By 2019, observant fans of Princess Catherine could just about predict what the duchess would wear to Trooping the Colour. At the very least, fashionistas could predict what designer she'd wear. In the last year of the decade, for her ninth appearance at Trooping the Colour, Princess Catherine once again wore an Alexander McQueen dress with a matching hat. While the hat and shape of the dress were similar to garments she'd worn to Trooping the Colour in the past, the princess shook things up a bit by wearing yellow, a color she doesn't often sport.

Prince William and Princess Catherine are quite active on social media, keeping the public apprised of their recent whereabouts and family news through various platforms. In 2019, the royals took to social media to educate the public about the Trooping the Colour event. "If Troops were to know what their Regiment's Colours looked like, it was necessary to display them regularly. The way in which this was done was for young officers to march in between the ranks of troops formed up in lines with the Colours held high. This is the origin of the word 'trooping.' So, what today is a great tradition began life as a vital and practical parade designed to aid unit recognition before a battle commenced," the royals wrote on Instagram.

The Wales family likely didn't predict in 2019 that it would be their last Trooping the Colour for a few more years. In 2020, of course, the world was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the cancellation or alteration of most public events. Though Trooping the Colour was held in 2020 and 2021, it looked much different than usual, with far fewer people in attendance and less fanfare. Another major difference was that Prince William and Princess Catherine did not join the queen for Trooping the Colour events for both years during the pandemic, meaning the public was deprived of a classic Catherine fashion moment for two years.

Princess Catherine's absence in 2020 and 2021 made her return in 2022 that much more triumphant. The duchess wore two of her favorite designers that year — a dress by Alexander McQueen and a hat by Philip Treacy — and accessorized with loads of sapphires. Many thought the princess was giving a subtle nod to her mother-in-law, Princess Diana, given the shape of the hat and structure of the dress, as Diana had worn a similar outfit back in 1991. Furthermore, Princess Catherine paid homage to Princess Diana by wearing her diamond and sapphire earrings.

Just as Princess Catherine and Prince William likely didn't leave the 2019 Trooping the Colour thinking they wouldn't attend again until 2022, they likely didn't leave the 2022 event thinking it would be the final time they'd attend with Queen Elizabeth II. In September of that year, the longest-reigning monarch in the United Kingdom's history died at age 96, making the 2022 Trooping the Colour her last. Queen Elizabeth's death cast a tinge of sadness on the 2023 event, but a change in command also made for some excitement. King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, attended the event for the first time as king and queen, and William and Catherine attended for the first time as the Prince and Princess of Wales.

As the newly minted Wales family matriarch, Princess Catherine wore a green Andrew Gn outfit, which she paired with a hat by Philip Treacy and sapphire jewelry. While the jewelry was another nod to Princess Diana, Princess Catherine's choice to wear green was reportedly a nod to the Irish Guards. In December 2022, Catherine became the Irish Guards' honorary colonel.