The Duchess of Cambridge Touches Down In Belize In Diana, Princess Of Wales’s Sapphires

The Duchess of Cambridge has been known to throw fashion curveballs while undertaking royal tours overseas, trading her floral Emilia Wickstead frocks and prim Catherine Walker coats for more relaxed pieces by local designers – with a few high-fashion moments thrown in for good measure. To arrive in Belize for a week-long visit to the Caribbean, though, Kate turned to one of her most trusted British designers, Jenny Packham, to offer up a sartorial nod to her host country. Stepping off the plane at the Phillip S W Goldson International Airport, the Duchess wore a sapphire-blue look in honour of Belize’s predominantly blue flag.

It’s her jewellery, though, that’s particularly noteworthy here. For the occasion, Kate chose to wear a pair of sapphire drop earrings and a necklace refashioned from Diana, Princess of Wales’s famed sapphire suite, gifted to the late princess by Saudi Arabia’s own royal family on the occasion of her 1981 wedding. (Both the stones and the designs were chosen to match Diana’s sapphire engagement ring, which would, of course, one day become Kate’s.)

The look is the first of many sartorial statements expected from Kate in the coming week. For their first overseas tour since the onset of the pandemic, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will explore Belize before travelling on to Jamaica and the Bahamas, arriving back in the UK on 27 March.