When Kate Middleton appeared at a Balmoral church a weekend ago with what seemed to be blonde hair, some commentators suspected her new hair color was a trick of the late summer light.
How could the Princess of Wales, the patron saint of complex chestnuts, abandon her dark locks for the more straightforward glamor of the caramel blonde?
Today, however, doubts were banished when Kate stepped out to an event in London with tumbling, golden hair, alongside her husband, Prince William.
The couple were opening a new garden at the Natural History Museum in London.
The color shift is particularly striking because, while Kate has flirted with highlights over the years, her bouncy chestnut blowout has been her constant look for more than two decades, her beauty signature since the days of the St Andrews University catwalk where, it is said, she first caught William’s eye.
Through engagements, pregnancies, family dramas, and national crises, the glossy brunette has been a symbol of consistency—a kind of crown in itself some might venture to say.
Until now.
Some commentators suggested last weekend that the lighter tones were simply the sun’s handiwork, a seasonal shading common enough if you happen to have spent part of your summer holiday on a yacht cruising the Aegean.
This, however, is not just sunshine.
If Kate sticks with her new look, it will be the second time that the Waleses have reinvented themselves over the summer; last year Prince William tried out a beard in the holidays, a style decision that has stayed with him since (and won him legions of fans).
Kate’s choice to debut her new shade in the Scottish Highlands before confirming it in London follows that same Windsor pattern of using Balmoral as both refuge and sartorial test ground.
Thursday’s engagement, Kate’s first public appearance since she was at Wimbledon in July, was to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, an institution of which Kate has been patron since 2013.
The museum, opened in 1881 and famed for its Romanesque terracotta façade and dinosaur skeletons, has now added a garden to its estate. Kate has spoken at length about how she believes spending time in nature helped her in her recovery from cancer.
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