The royals turned out en masse for Easter service at Windsor Castle’s St. George’s Chapel — the church where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are set to tie the knot this May — on Sunday, April 1. Whilst the prince and his bride-to-be were not in attendance, Queen Elizabeth led proceedings alongside a number of her grandchildren, including Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor, and James, Viscount Severn.
Also in attendance were Prince William and Kate Middleton, whose arrival demonstrated, interestingly, a break in royal protocol.
Kate — who is set to give birth to her third child in just a few weeks — arrived with her husband by car. Nothing unusual in that, you might think, only royal tradition dictates that members of the monarchy walk down the hill from Windsor Castle to the chapel for the Easter service.
Not only that, but the couple broke royal protocol by arriving after the Queen — the “rules” state that the Queen should arrive last to any event and leave first.
Kate, who is eight months pregnant with her third child and due at the end of April, arrived to the service by car.
While royal tradition dictates that members of the monarchy must walk down the hill to the chapel for the Easter service, we’re guessing exceptions were made for the heavily pregnant royal.
Whilst it’s most likely this occurred on account of Kate’s pregnancy — plus, let’s not forget, she was also in heels (nude Gianvito Rossi pumps, in case you’re wondering) — it does show that in some aspects of royal life, there is an increasing trend towards the relaxing of past traditions (we need only look at Meghan’s inclusion at the royal Christmas last year to see quite how times are changing).
Indeed, one of the only other instances, where this rule was “broken,” occurred at the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill at St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1952. To show respect to her dearly-cherished former Prime Minister, the Queen chose to arrive before his coffin and family and left after them too.
WATCH: Meghan, a former actress, joins the royals over Christmas. Post continues…
But back to this Easter Day, Kate paired her pumps with a brown Catherine Walker coat, which she last wore in 2015 to the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations just before giving birth to Princess Charlotte. We might assume, therefore, that it’s clearly very comfortable maternity wear. She completed her outfit with a brown Lock & Co hat and earrings by Balenciaga.
By contrast, the Queen looked most colorful dressed in a fuschia pink jacket and hat.
Pretty in pink!
Her Majesty made the time to receive two posies from some of her tiniest fans.
Her pregnant granddaughter Zara Phillips wore blue and another of her granddaughters, Princess Eugenie, set social media abuzz by wearing a vibrant Oscar de la Renta paint-splattered buttoned dress (it’s now sold out from Selfridges, but was on sale for $3,700).
In all, it was a colorful display by the royals, befitting the arrival of the new season of spring in the northern hemisphere.
This post originally appeared on our sister site, Grazia Daily.
Princess Eugenie turned heads in her costly ensemble from Oscar de la Renta.
Meanwhile, Zara — who is expecting her second child with husband Mike Tindall — stunned in a royal blue overcoat for the event.
