£176,664 spent on Princess Kate to cover 138 engagements

[tatalan]

Princess Kate wore £176,664 worth of clothing for 138 engagements in 2022.

How do you feel about this?

Kate's most expensive fashion year yet! Princess of Wales wore a record £176,664 worth of new clothes in 2022

Are you sure about this? I worked for a luxury hotel in the Caribbean about a decade ago. Prince Harry and Princess Anne both stayed there on occasion and absolutely did not pay, it wasn’t even a question. It was as part of various tours they were doing (Grenada so part of the commonwealth) and the royals and their direct staff were not billed at all. A few photos (which I’ve just searched and still appear to be on the walls of the reception), a meal with the owner and it was considered a deal. The rooms they stayed in were around £3k per night.

I assumed this was replicated in clothing. Why would they be allowed to accept free accommodation and food as part of a tour but not clothing? They often wear clothing by designers of the places they are visiting, o always assumed they got it free.

@GCSquirrel

Given the thread, I would have thought it was obvious I was referring to clothes, accessories and related accoutrements. But it seems not. I hope this clarifies things.

Am a little puzzled why you would mention Prince Harry and Princess Anne and luxury hotels in a thread about the Princess of Wales' clothing?

Oh, and in answer to the OP's question, I honestly couldn't care less about how much the Princess of Wales spends on clothing. And besides, it's not like she doesn't pay in other ways.

Am more concerned about MP's expenses given those are actually paid for by the taxpayer. But that's just me.

@highfidelity why are you puzzled? I’m responding to your claim that royals cannot accept freebies when in my experience they absolutely can. I have no idea what happens wrt to Kate’s clothing, the experience I have is with Princess Anne and Prince Harry. They are also royals. When they stayed at the hotel I worked at they didn’t pay, therefore it was a freebie. They did not try to pay and as such accepted the freebie.

Hope this clears it up.

Some people have really good memories. You should probably consider that when posting so many personal details.

Why are Duchess of Sussex fans so critical of Princess of Wales? Why is there even a comparison? If you have to do the whole misogynistic Daily Mail style comparison of two women then surely a better comparison would be Meghan and Sophie/ Sarah? Catherine's spending or lifestyle would be closer to Diana's and Philip's as they are or were married to a monarch and the parent of a future monarch. Sarah, Sophie and Meghan are not, so why the constant pitching M against C? Apples and oranges.

@GCSquirrel Again, and to repeat, the thread (and my post) is about Princess of Wales' clothing, hence my puzzlement at you mentioning other royals and things that are not clothing.

So there we are. Hope that clears things up for you!

@highfidelity

• did you claim in this thread that royals cannot accept any freebies? ✅
• are Princess Anne and Prince Harry royals? ✅
• is staying at a £3k per night hotel and not paying accepting a freebie? ✅
• does that suggest that royals can and do accept freebies? ✅

Another Harry and Meg superfan with 99% of their posts in The Royal Forum devoted to promoting H&M and slagging off Will & Kate.

Tell the boss of your PR firm that less is more.

@GCSquirrel Prince Harry and Princess Anne both stayed there on occasion and absolutely did not pay, it wasn’t even a question. It was as part of various tours they were doing (Grenada so part of the commonwealth) and the royals and their direct staff were not billed at all.Interesting..Sounds like what at least to some degree they were travelling on duty/travelling for work. Certainly in some occupations/roles where that's done the individuals themselves never get billed directly, bills might all get settled between the accommodation provider and head office post the stay...Are you saying that in the instances you describe the hotel never got reimbursed at all, by anybody, for services provided to the royals?

@notimagain I certainly never billed them. I was originally put in contact with some kind of secretary each time to give them the details of the hotel on the basis the royal team would then go through several and choose the most suitable one (which seemed to be more about security than whichever was the most luxurious). Then they got in contact a few months later, someone came out and checked all the rooms and told us which ones we’d be having. I did all the billing and contact with our high profile guests and the cost was not mentioned by them at all. The owner told me not to worry about it and I never billed them. Whether it was chased up years later or whatever, I don’t know but it definitely didn’t go through the accounts (for Harry at least) for the 18 months after he stayed and before I left.

I have no idea if that is standard practice. The hotel I worked for was owned by an individual family who was friendly with the royal family so I don’t know if it was just a between friend’s agreement.

I don't really care - I think she does a great on and puts up with a-lot if intrusion into her life, judgement etc. and it's funded by the Dutchy of Cornwall income anyway, not taxpayers.

However, I'd love to see her recycling more outfits, renting more gowns and perhaps doing something creative with her cast offs to raise money / recycle (donate? auction off?) support sustainable fashion in a big wa.

Princesses have always been synonymous with designer fashion with high price tags, this would be a good time to acknowledge the crazy cost of clothing a Princess in a creative and forward thinking way.

Renting a gown for the earthshot prize awards was a strike of genius - more if that in 2023 please.

What about 100 days/ engagements of recycled outfits in 2023? Or something similar?

@HaveYouSeenNancy

Some people have really good memories. You should probably consider that when posting so many personal details

Which is why I don't ever ever post personal traceable details. I've learned that from a very unpleasant experience a lot of years ago. You really don't need to tell me that. I am very aware. So I am sure your post cannot be directed at me.

When the royals go on overseas tours it is the bequest of the foreign office and the host country. They don’t pay. One presumes the bills is picked up by foreign office and/or host country. Outfits for work is separate. If I was being put up for work reasons in a hotel I wouldn’t expect to pay.

@GCSquirrel

Thanks for the background.

@AuroraCake

"If I was being put up for work reasons in a hotel I wouldn’t expect to pay."

Same here, I use to travel a lot for work purposes as part of a team and we certainly didn't expect to be billed for the rooms at check out, only for meals etc, and sometimes not even that - it depended on the deal negotiated between our Head Office and the hotel.

The hotel certainly didn't give the rooms away as freebies, ultimately Head Office paid the bills.

in her shoes I’d be sourcing vintage, second hand and cheaper new greener ethically sourced clothing options. She’s probably a role model to some and could use her influence to encourage a greener kinder approach to clothing. Also rewearing her wardrobe often.

alternatively buying lovely dresses and then selling them off yearly to raise funds for a women’s charity

I thought the bill would be higher than that!

OP you can call her Princess Kate if you like. We all know you're trying to belittle her status by doing it but it matters not, she will not care and it purely demonstrates your lack of class.

1/10

Use of the term "Princess Kate" suggests OP is American. 🤷‍♀️

Don't think that's a high cost per engagement at all £1200 per time she is working sounds lower than I had thought it would be.

She rented that beautiful dress for the Earthshot event . I think we will see more of that .

the article seems to have plucked that figure out of the air, considering it includes jewels which won’t be rebought each time. I think for the amount of publicity she gets, she is the one everyone wants to look at so it’s a big earner for papers and draws publicity. While ever we have the royal family, the fans want them to look posh.

Because you were adamant that Royals cannot accept freebies, and the poster gave concrete examples of other Royals accepting freebies.

I imagine all Royals get discounts on clothing etc as part of a deal - the designers know they'll get a huge amount of advertsing. I doubt they will pay full price. The big jewels will likely be borrowed (they do that at the Oscars etc) if they're not already part of the Royal collection.

I clicked on the article the OP linked - about half (i'll be honest, I stopped paying that much attention) of her outfits were rewears.

I agree. It includes outfits that she may not have even bought. And the jewellery will often be loaned for free or rented. Not purchased and kept.

Surely they don't need to wear loaned jewellery ? The royal collection is staggering, there must be some bauble within it that would suit? £3.5billion worth of jewels will be on display at the coronation. If they can't find something in that lot... there's something very wrong