Kate Middleton paid tribute to Princess Diana as she turned out to celebrate the first day of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations – which ended last night when the monarch lit one of more than 3,000 beacons to represent her 70 years on the throne.
Before the illumination ceremonies, the Duchess of Cambridge, 40, paraded down the Mall in London in an Alexander McQueen dress ahead of the Trooping the Colour, which also saw a 70-aircraft RAF flypast in honour of the Queen as she stood on Buckingham Palace with senior royals.
Royal fans spotted the royal mum-of-three, who sat alongside Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall in the carriage procession on the first of the official events to mark the Jubilee, was wearing a pair of earrings that once belonged to the late Princess of Wales.
Her tribute came despite criticism of the Queen for taking five days to publicly acknowledge Diana’s death being one of the most controversial points of her reign.
The earrings were given to Kate by husband Prince William, 39, along with his mother’s dazzling sapphire engagement ring.
They came as a gift after William’s proposal to Kate in 2010.
The jewels were originally given to Diana, killed in a Paris car smash aged 36 on August 31, 1997, as a wedding gift to mark her marriage to Prince Charles, 73, and the gift was part of a suite of jewels from Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia.
Diana said in a letter of wishes that came with her will “I would like to allocate all my jewellery to the share to be held by my sons, so that their wives may, in due course, have it or use it. I leave the exact division of the jewellery to your discretion.”
Kate was joined in a carriage by her children Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, as tens of thousands of royal fans cheered the appearance of the royal family today (02.06.22) on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Royal watchers said she used distraction techniques to keep her lively three children calm as they played a central role in the historic Trooping the Colour parade.
According to a lip reader, Kate explained to them in detail what was to come to ensure they were not overwhelmed by the pomp and noise.
At one point, she appeared to say: “This is wonderful! Look at all these people!”
Her reassurances to her children did not stop Louis taking centre stage at the flypast by shouting, covering his ears at the noise, picking his nose and barging past the Queen, 96 – known as “gan-gan” to the Cambridge brood – as 70 aircraft thundered overhead.
According to a lipreader, Kate said to Camilla, 74, “He really is trying to squeeze by!”
