Kate Middleton's red puffer jacket is perfect for a grey day

Catherine, Princess of Wales visits the 'D-Day: Interception, Intelligence, Invasion' exhibition at Bletchley Park

(Image credit: Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

published 31 July 2023

We always love a throwback photo of the royals, and today we’re particularly loving how Catherine, Princess of Wales added a pop of colour to a chilly day with a fun red puffer jacket. It’s giving us plenty of ideas on how to cope with the current miserable UK weather.

Kate Middleton donned the perfect red puffer jacket back in 2017.
She wore the fun jacket during an appearance at the home of Prince William and Prince George’s favourite football team.
In other royal news, Prince William rolls up his sleeves and gets stuck into a work shift we never expected from the future King!

It’s grey. It’s rainy. It’s typical British weather.

So naturally we’re digging through the archives to find a way to brighten up our wardrobe as the rain threatens to fall – and the Princess of Wales has given us the ultimate inspiration.

In throwback photos from 2017, Kate was seen sporting a puffer jacket in a cheerful red.

Kate's look was so relaxed but still so fun

She partnered it with a simple black top and black jeans, proving there’s an easy way of dressing up or down a bolder outer layer.

With her hair tied back in a no-fuss ponytail, Kate was visiting Aston Villa Football Club to see the work of the Coach Core programme.

Kate was joined by Prince William for the engagement – and no doubt he didn’t need to be asked twice to join. William is a lifelong supporter of the football club – and has passed that love on to Prince George.

William and Kate enjoyed his and hers puffer jacket looks for the Aston Villa outing

We love that Kate’s choice of colourful coat was an early indicator of the role she would eventually step into.

As now Princess of Wales, Kate has been wearing more red because of the symbolic connection to the country, and it’s a lesson she learnt from Princess Diana.

Not only is red the colour of the dragon on Wales’ flag, the bright scarlet hue shows up in Welsh fabrics throughout history and forms part of the national Welsh dress.

Princess Diana made red one of her most worn colours for this very exact reason. She’d often wear ensembles made entirely of the colour, including hats and accessories.

Kate’s red puffer could also have been an early sign that she was studying the likes of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Red has the longest wavelength of all the colours in the visible spectrum, meaning it literally hits our eyes before we process any other colours.

Kate could’ve been taking style cues from the late Queen Elizabeth with this comfy-looking puffer, understanding as Her Majesty did, that wearing brighter colours meant more fans could catch a glimpse of her.

Jack Slater is not the Last Action Hero, but that's what comes up first when you Google him. Preferring a much more sedentary life, Jack gets his thrills by covering news, entertainment, celebrity, film and culture for woman&home, and other digital publications.

Having written for various print and online publications—ranging from national syndicates to niche magazines—Jack has written about nearly everything there is to write about, covering LGBTQ+ news, celebrity features, TV and film scoops, reviewing the latest theatre shows lighting up London’s West End and the most pressing of SEO based stories.