LONDON — It’s an annual tradition for the royals to attend the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at Royal Albert Hall honoring the armed forces.
The Princess of Wales, who has been out of the public eye for most of the year due to cancer treatment, attended with husband Prince William.
She wore a simple black coat dress to the event. It’s royal protocol to wear black to Remembrance Day services and events.
Kate Middleton at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Getty Images
Kate Middleton accessorized her evening look with a black Chanel clutch; a Monica Vinader pearl necklace and Princess Diana’s Collingwood pearl drop earrings. She also wore her diamond and sapphire engagement ring, which once belonged to her late mother-in-law.
The earrings had been a gift to the late princess from Collingwood, a jewelry company favored by Diana’s family, the Spencers.
Diana often wore the pearl drop earrings to public events, such as a special performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Starlight Express” at the Apollo Theatre in London in 1984.
She also wore them to an evening at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. in November 1985, the day after her famous dance with John Travolta.
Princess Diana wearing the Collingwood pearl drop earrings.
Getty Images
The late princess also liked wearing the earrings with the Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot tiara, as the pearls resemble those in the tiara.
Middleton occasionally takes a leaf out of Diana’s style book and wears the tiara with the Collingwood pearl drop earrings.
She first wore the pearl drop earrings in 2017 for the banquet held at Buckingham Palace for the Spanish state visit.
Kate Middleton wearing the Collingwood pearl drop earrings in 2017 for the first time.
Getty Images
On Sunday, the Princess of Wales will accompany other members of the working British royal family at The Cenotaph war memorial in central London for the annual Remembrance Sunday service led by King Charles.
The Princess of Wales and other members of the royal family will watch the service from the balcony of the Foreign Office building.
