Princess Kate Trades Fall's Trendy Moss Green for a Favorite Emerald Dress With a Hidden Meaning During Emotional Cancer Hospital Visit
The Princess of Wales sent a quiet message with her outfit while meeting with patients in London.
Princess Kate spent a moving day at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London on Friday, September 11, visiting with staff and patients at the same facility where she was treated for cancer in 2024. For an event that was focused on spotlighting holistic cancer care, the future queen avoided a new outfit, instead relying on familiar pieces that sent a message about one of the hospital's new initiatives.
This season, it's all about moss green, with the muted shade showing up everywhere for fall 2026. But Kate skipped the trend and pulled an old favorite Suzannah dress out of her closet in a bright emerald green shade, wearing the British designer's Flippy Wiggle midi.
Princess Kate chose a Suzannah dress she's worn on several previous occasions.
Kate also owns the vintage-inspired dress in a bright white version, and she debuted the green iteration in 2023 for a visit to the Anna Freud Centre during Mental Health Awareness Week.
At first, you might not connect the two events, but green is the official color for mental health awareness—a topic that the Princess of Wales explored during her day at Royal Marsden on Friday.
Kate recently raised money for the hospital's new Center for Holistic Wellbeing and Recovery by completing the National Three Peaks Challenge, climbing the three highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales. During her visit Friday, the royal stressed the importance of how mental health support, being in nature and other holistic therapies helped her through her cancer treatments.
The Princess of Wales met with staff and patients at the Royal Marsden Hospital.
“It makes a big difference, the impact of nature, the impact of good nutrition, good ongoing support around you when it’s really difficult to manage the trials and tribulations of medical treatments… it makes a big difference,” she shared.
In addition to her meaningful green dress, Kate chose a necklace and earring set she's been wearing for more than a decade. The Princess of Wales first wore Mappin & Webb's Empress necklace in 2014, and she debuted the matching earrings at Princess Charlotte's 2015 christening. Since then she's worn the diamond designs to everything from a 2018 mental health summit to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
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The Princess of Wales finished off her outfit with black Camilla Elphick slingback heels and bouncy waves in her hair for her emotional return to the Royal Marsden.
Kristin Contino is Marie Claire's Senior Royal and Celebrity editor. She's been covering royalty since 2018—including major moments such as the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II’s death and King Charles III's coronation—and places a particular focus on the British Royal Family's style and what it means.
Prior to working at Marie Claire, she wrote about celebrity and royal fashion at Page Six Style and covered royalty from around the world as chief reporter at Royal Central. Kristin has provided expert commentary for outlets including the BBC, Sky News, US Weekly, the Today Show and many others.
Kristin is also the published author of two novels, “The Legacy of Us” and “A House Full of Windsor.” She's passionate about travel, history, horses, and learning everything she can about her favorite city in the world, London.