On January 8, 2011, the eve of her 29th birthday, Kate was a guest at the wedding of friends Harry Aubrey-Fletcher and Sarah Louise Stourton. The ceremony was at St. Andrews Church in Boroughbridge. William was an usher, and he arrived earlier in the afternoon.
Although William was at the wedding (and I am sure they were reunited at the reception), this is a solo event of sorts for Kate, because for all the public parts where she was photographed, William was absent. So, this was the first “picture event” that Kate arrived at sans William, and therefore it was the first time we saw her arrive somewhere solo with a security retinue. Nowadays, Kate arriving in a chauffeured Range Rover is positively common, but this was a very exciting change of pace for longtime royal watchers in 2011. It just underscored that she was well and truly a princess-to-be, and royal watching was about to change massively for us.
This ensemble remains one of my favorites on her of all time. She was wearing the same Issa frock she wore to Autumn and Peter’s wedding, but with a new Libélula velvet coat with a sparkling clasp. Kate kept the vintage-vibe going with a perky structured beret from Whiteley. To make an already gorgeous ensemble even better, she added a luxe pop of color with aubergine heels from Mascaro and a matching clutch from L.K. Bennett. I believe her earrings and bracelet remain UFOs, but someone might have identified them in the past ten years. I don’t know.
As excited as we were as fans, obviously Kate’s joy in such a personally exciting time surely surpassed ours, and it was reflected in her radiant smile in those early days.
Not to rub a sore spot, but since William was busy with his usher duties, Kate naturally gravitated to one of her besties at the time–Prince Harry. The two were pictured leaving the church together, and doubtless were (reunited with William) a happy trio that night at the reception.
