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Woman & Home
Lifestyle
Emma Shacklock

Princess Catherine's red nail polish signals she’s here to ‘push boundaries’ as she follows Duchess Sophie’s bold choice

Princess Catherine's red nail polish worn as she attended the traditional Easter Sunday Service

Princess Catherine's red nail polish signaled she’s here to “push boundaries” as she followed Duchess Sophie’s bold choice. 


Whilst many fans might’ve been entranced by Princess Catherine’s Easter Service earrings or been bowled over by Princess Catherine and Prince Louis twinning in blue, there was another part of her Easter 2023 look that caught our eye. The future Queen Consort stepped out at Windsor Castle wearing red nail polish - something we’ve not seen before from her at an official event. It’s understood that it’s protocol for royal women to stick to pale pink or nude nail polish. The late Queen Elizabeth's favorite was famously Essie's Ballet Slippers and Princess Catherine generally followed her example palette-wise. 

This makes Princess Catherine’s red nail polish at Easter incredibly intriguing and behavioral expert Darren Stanton has revealed the potential significance exclusively to Woman & Home on behalf of Spin Genie. Describing red as her “go-to” color, he expressed his belief that the polish shows she’s prepared to “push boundaries”.  

(Image credit: Future//Image 1:Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images //Image 2: Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

"Red is Kate's most popular color, it's her go-to color for feeling confident, it's among her superhero colors, which tend to be red and blue,” he explained, before suggesting that Princess Catherine’s red nail polish was, “a way of keeping that level of confidence we have come to know Kate to have”. 

Darren added, “Kate it's a way of her retaining her personality while following royal protocol to an extent in other ways, say her outfit choices and how she acts in public. It's Kate's way of saying 'I'm going to be my own person, I'm going to push boundaries'.”

The behavioral expert reflected upon how in recent years some of “the protocols that were a mainstay by the Queen have gone out of the window” and called Princess Catherine’s red nail polish a “defiant message”.

(Image credit: Future//Image 1: Photo by Hannah McKay/WPA-Pool/Getty Images//Image 2:Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images//Image 3:Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

Though the Princess of Wales isn't the only one to make this bold statement of confidence with her nail polish. Princess Catherine's aunt-in-law Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh broke this royal beauty protocol and wore red polish during an important dinner in November 2021. Whilst last year she opted for a bronze shade at the Royal Variety Performance and a muted gray-brown for a visit to Shooting Star House in 2020.

“I think it is a defiant message from Kate, and Sophie to an extent, who Kate appears to have taken a lead from, to say 'I'm going to be myself, I'm an independent woman and I'm going to do things my way. I don't see anything wrong with feeling and looking my best',” Darren said. 

(Image credit: Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage via Getty)

The expert went on to suggest that this simple nail polish choice from Princess Catherine and Duchess Sophie in recent years “demonstrates as a whole that the monarchy is evolving” especially “from a female perspective”. 

Darren dubbed the choice a “strategic move” that ties in with how the Prince and Princess Wales especially “love to connect with people”. Given that both Duchess Sophie and now Princess Catherine have both been glimpsed wearing bright red nail polish in recent times it seems this could signal a shift towards a more modern approach to the monarchy and projecting personal confidence.  

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