Princess Charlotte is already starting style trends at age 11, with her adorable Ted Baker charm bracelet selling out soon after her appearance at the Wimbledon men's finals on July 12. The tween princess took after her mom at the tennis championships, wearing a custom Jenny Packham dress that channeled the outfit Princess Kate wore to last year's men's finals. But she also matched with her mom in another way, with both royals sporting this summer's biggest nail trend.
Princess Charlotte wore bright pink nail polish to Wimbledon last year, but she traded her bubblegum style for a bare manicure at the 2026 men's finals, coordinating with mom Kate in clear polish.
The Princess of Wales has always favored short, bare nails or the softest hint of polish, but it seems she's started a bit of a movement in the beauty world.
This year, more people—including Princess Charlotte—are moving away from bright colors and designs to what some are calling the "rich bare nail" trend. Think sheer, clear or no polish at all with neat, shorter nails.
"The argument, from a cultural perspective, is that given the prevalence of standing nail appointments, the scarcity mindset that anoints what’s luxurious and what’s not has finally tipped manicured nails into the passé category, while bare or barely there nails are crowned the ultimate luxury," Marie Claire's beauty director, Hannah Baxter, says of the trend.
But even if it might seem like the royals don't do anything to their nails, it still takes work to pull off a bare manicure, as nail artist Jessica White previously told Marie Claire. "The reality is, a clean manicure is still a manicure," White said.
Keeping up with filing, trimming, buffing and the like—whether at home or at the salon—is essential to pulling off Kate and Charlotte's bare manicures.
For the royals, however, it's hardly a trend. Princess Kate was showing off the clean look before it was ever a thing, and Queen Elizabeth's hatmaker, Stella McLaren, recently told me that the late Queen "never" polished her nails. The Princess of Wales has made some exceptions, though, like on Easter Sunday 2023, when she turned up to church with a vivid red manicure.
As for Charlotte's nails, fans likely won't see her again in public until Christmas, but perhaps she'll buck tradition and go with a holiday red or even reindeer nails like Princess Eugenie.
