Why Kate Middleton often wears a recycled outfit to weddings

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When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry got married in 2018, the bride wore a stunning Givenchy wedding gown, complete with veil embroidered with symbolic flowers.

As for Kate Middleton's outfit, it didn't make too many headlines, and that's because she rewore one of her old outfits, a cream Alexander McQueen coat dress which she'd previously worn in 2015 for her daughter Princess Charlotte's christening.

She did the same for Zara and Mike Tindall's wedding in 2011, wearing a champagne-coloured embroidered coat by DAY Birger & Mikkelsen, which she also wore to two other weddings: Laura Parker Bowles and Harry Lopes's in 2006, and friends Mel Nicholson and Oli Baker back in 2010.

The Duchess even sometimes wears high-street to weddings, such as the Topshop polka dot dress which she recycled for the wedding of close friends William van Cutsem and Rosie Ruck Keene in 2013.

In 2018, she wore a blue Catherine Walker dress to a friend's wedding, which she was first spotted wearing in Germany in 2017. Anyway, you get the idea.

(Image credit: 2013 Max Mumby/Indigo)

And apparently, though this isn't an official rule, she does this to make sure all the attention is on the bride, no doubt knowing that if she wears something flamboyant or new, the headlines will focus on her, which they inevitably do.

What a thoughtful gesture.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.