From Kate Middleton‘s elegant coat dresses to the Queen‘s cheery matching co-ords, it’s not Christmas Day without a festive royal appearance at Sandringham.
Last Christmas, Kate, Meghan, William and Harry appeared alongside each other in the most elegant ensembles – it was Meghan’s first Christmas as the Duchess of Sussex but not her first time joining the royals. Back in 2017, just weeks after they announced their engagement, Meghan was invited to spend her Christmas up at Queen’s Norfolk estate, joining the Windsors for their annual Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene.
Dressing for a royal Christmas is by no means an easy task. Stylish but practical – the royals are required to walk to the church from the main house so towering heels aren’t an option. They also have to factor in the cold weather and meeting the crowds afterwards – nobody wants to see a shivering duchess.
Fitted, figure-hugging coat dresses are a popular choice in cashmere and wool, often finished with bright trim, gold buttons and nipped-in waists. And then there’s the hats – the Queen always goes big with Kate often picking out pillbox styles while Meghan chose a simple cloche-style last year.
The ‘Kate effect‘ and ‘Meghan effect‘ are just as apparent over Christmas too. In 2017, Kate’s Miu Miu coat sold out within 24 hours while her 2016 Hobbs number accounted for retailer seeing a 4.3 per cent increase in sales over the 13 weeks leading up to New Year’s Eve. Meghan’s beige Sentaler coat in 2017 also led to shoppers wanting to get their hands on it. The designer behind the Toronto-based outerwear label said in an interview: “It wasn’t until that day, at 6am, that I woke up to a tweet of Meghan Markle wearing my coat. It was the best Christmas present I could have ever received!”
While we await this year’s outfits, GLAMOUR edits the best Christmas day looks to date…
