Fashion can be a powerful tool for communication. A vintage wedding dress is an homage to the previous owners. A businesswoman’s well-tailored pantsuit speaks to her powerful position. And a blue cape gown can apparently say a lot about a family’s functionality. Omid Scoobie’s new book Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival (released earlier this week) dropped an expected amount of royal bombshells. While no royal has responded publicly yet, Kate Middleton said a lot with her blue caped Safiyaa dress worn to the Royal Variety Performance yesterday (while simultaneously ignoring reporters' requests for comment on said book) in London.
Hand-in-hand with Prince William, The Dutchess of Cambridge looked stunning in the gown from Safiyaa, which is also a favorite designer of (you guessed it) Megan Markle. What’s more, Markle wore a nearly identical blue cape Safiyaa dress back in 2018 on a royal visit to Fiji. In the royal family, there is no such thing as coincidences—the timing of Middleton wearing the similar dress and its details bring this week’s drama to royal heights.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s gown in a deep blue tone had a floor-sweeping length and a structured shoulder detail. She styled the dress with matching blue pumps and a crystal-embellished clutch. Middleton wore her hair in gorgeous waves and topped off the look with lots of jewels, including her sapphire engagement ring that once belonged to Princess Diana.
Safiyaa has long been a favorite designer of Markle, so Middleton wearing a dress by her sends a message. But it's not just the dessigner of Middleton's cape dress that bears significance—it's the color, too. Blue is an incredibly noteworthy and historic color for the royals. For example, Queen Camilla wore blue non-stop after The Queen died.
“I’ve definitely noticed a specific shade of blue—what is known as royal blue,” royal fashion expert Eloise Moran previously told Marie Claire. “It’s actually a very traditional color in the U.K., and, when I think of the monarchy, one of the key colors, of course, is royal blue. Blue definitely keeps popping up—there definitely seems to be a correlation.”
So what does Middleton's style choice, and all its subliminal connections, mean? We do not know for certain but the timing is certainly interesting.
Although it was once speculated, we now have somewhat of confirmation from the release of Scoobie’s book that Middleton is no longer close with Prince Harry, and therefore has no relationship with Markle. Per reports, Scoobie wrote that Princess Kate felt betrayed by Harry and their relationship is beyond repair, even though the two were considered incredibly close. Besides this, many more allegations about the royals and their relationships have come to light from Scoobie’s authorship; One being that the Middletons had planned for Kate to win Prince Williams over all along.
In short, it’s a royal dramageddon, and Middleton's blue cape dress certainly adds fuel to the fire.
