There's a reason Kate Middleton and the Queen never take off their coats

If you look back at pictures of Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, and the Queen at official events, you'll notice they very often wear coats or coat dresses, especially during autumn and winter.

Even Meghan Markle has adopted this look, as recently as Trooping the Colour, where she and Kate also nodded to their wedding days with their outfits.

kate middleton dress

(Image credit: Rex)

They tend to be colourful and match whichever dress they have underneath. You'll probably see them at the same event with their coats on, and later without, however the one thing you'll never see is the royals taking them off - and there's apparently a reason for it, which like many things, comes down to royal fashion etiquette.

According to Australian site Honey, it's because it's 'not ladylike' to take any item of clothing off in public, and that includes coats, regardless of how demure your outfit is underneath.

And Kate is a stickler for the rules, often opting for nude or pale pink nail polish in public (dark polish is a no no), although she does like wearing wedges, even if the Queen isn't a fan.

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.