The sweet story behind Kate Middleton and Princess Charlotte's matching outfits

The sweet reason why Kate Middleton and Princess Charlotte love wearing matching outfits

It’s been a busy month for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Between the new school term, the launch of Kate’s Hold Still photography book, and a starry appearance on the red carpet on the horizon, we can scarcely keep up with the royal family of five.

And yet, despite having a schedule that involves abseiling down a cliff face and playing tennis with Emma Raducanu all in the same week, the Duchess of Cambridge always manages to look perennially chic. So it's wholly unsurprising that her daughter, Princess Charlotte, has inherited the family gene for good taste – never mind that she's just 6-years-old.

In fact, so much of a mini me is little Charlotte that she wore an exact replica of her mother's favourite shoes for last year's (adorable) Cambridge family Christmas photo.

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The shoes in question, of course, were Kate's trusty Penelope Chilvers Long Tassel boots, which she's had for seventeen years, and has worn for just about every iconic K Middy casual fashion moment from the St Andrews days to now.

Not forgetting, of course, the time she wore them to the Blenheim Palace Game Fair in 2004 – the same year that her relationship with Prince William went public.

"That was probably the most exciting time that she ever wore them for me and it just went viral," Chilvers recently told PEOPLE. 

"She's the epitome of our customer because she loves the healthy outdoor life, she loves the countryside, and I love how she often wears them to talk about conservation.

"She wore them on the beach in Wales when they were helping to collect rubbish and in Canada in that conservation area and Bhutan, which is also a protected landscape — it might be a coincidence, but it does seem to go hand-in-hand with the sustainable message that we share," she added.

The designer said that the duchess owns "a few pairs" of her shoes, so it only makes sense that little Charlotte should have a few in her own wardrobe, too.

As well as Penelope Chilvers, Princess Charlotte's favourite brands (yes, at six-years-old she already has a number of them), are thought to be Zara and John Lewis. Coincidence that these are some of her mother's favourite brands, too? We think not.

More Kate and Charlotte twinning moments, please!

Kate McCusker

Kate McCusker is a freelance writer at Marie Claire UK, having joined the team in 2019. She studied fashion journalism at Central Saint Martins, and her byline has also appeared in Dezeen, British Vogue, The Times and woman&home. In no particular order, her big loves are: design, good fiction, bad reality shows and the risible interiors of celebrity houses.