Kate Middleton visited a children’s hospice in Ipswich on Thursday, October 22, wearing an understated green ensemble, designer accessories and jewellery with a combined estimated value approaching £500,000.
Yes, you read that correctly. Nearly half a million pounds. Of course, you wouldn’t necessarily know that from the media’s glowing coverage of her visit. The Princess of Wales was praised for returning to the hospice where she delivered her first public speech as a working royal in 2012.
But imagine the headlines if Meghan Sussex had arrived at a children’s hospice wearing nearly £500,000 worth of clothing and jewellery during Britain’s ongoing cost-of-living pressures. I suspect we would be having an entirely different conversation.
Kate Middleton Returns to Children’s Hospice in Ipswich
According to People, Kate visited The Treehouse, a children’s hospice operated by East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH), where she has served as patron since 2012.
The Princess met children, families and staff while touring construction work on a major expansion. The improvements include a hydrotherapy pool, additional therapy facilities and spaces designed to better support seriously ill children and their families.
The visit marked 14 years since Kate delivered her first public royal speech at the same hospice. It is a worthwhile cause, and the hospice deserves the publicity and support that comes with a royal visit. But Kate’s appearance also offers an interesting opportunity to examine the British press’s fascination with royal wardrobes.
How Kate Middleton’s Outfit Reaches Nearly £500,000
Kate’s appearance at the Ipswich hospice included designer clothing and jewellery whose combined estimated value could approach half a million pounds, depending on the valuations used.
According to the Daily Mail, she wore a Victoria Beckham suit featuring an £850 Katherine blazer and £475 trousers, paired with a £520 high-neck knit and a £290 belt. Her outfit also included designer footwear and diamond earrings.
But the real value lies in her jewellery, particularly the sapphire engagement ring previously worn by Princess Diana. Some jewellery specialists have estimated that ring’s current value at £350,000–£450,000, although no definitive public appraisal has established its precise worth.
These are estimated values of items Kate wore, not purchases she made for the hospice visit. And her engagement ring is an inherited family heirloom. But the way the British press reports on these expensive family heirlooms tells an interesting story of its own.
Why Does Meghan Sussex’s Jewellery Always Count?
The British media’s fascination with Meghan Sussex’s jewellery is extraordinary. Even when she leaves expensive pieces at home, they become a story. Take the Daily Mail’s October 15 headline, “Meghan leaves her crown jewels at home!” The newspaper scrutinised her decision not to wear her engagement ring during a charitable visit to Nottingham with Prince Harry, highlighting her Cartier Tank watch (which they estimate to be £17,800), fitness tracker and diamond-encrusted ring cover. It even discussed the estimated £126,000 value of the engagement ring she wasn’t wearing.
But here’s what makes the comparison particularly revealing. Just seven days later, the Daily Mail published a detailed account of Kate’s Ipswich hospice visit, listing the prices of her Victoria Beckham outfit without mentioning the value of her sapphire engagement ring. Both Kate’s ring and Meghan’s Cartier watch previously belonged to Princess Diana, yet the newspaper put a £17,800 price tag on Meghan’s watch while leaving Kate’s far more valuable heirloom out of its fashion breakdown. Why the difference?
There is also an important financial distinction. Meghan earns income through her business ventures and commercial partnerships, while Kate has access to jewellery through her position within the Royal Family. Both women have received valuable gifts, so neither jewellery collection represents entirely personal spending.
Either the media applies the same standards to both women’s jewellery, or it acknowledges that attaching price tags to family heirlooms can create a misleading impression of personal extravagance.
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A Children’s Hospice Deserves More Than a Royal Fashion Moment
There is also something uncomfortable about the setting. Kate was visiting a charity supporting children with serious illnesses and families navigating extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
Although Kate has recorded fewer official engagements than many other working royals, the hospice does vital work, and she deserves credit for her years of support. But visits like this should also draw attention to the charity’s need for funds, the care it provides and the families who rely on its help.
Instead, royal coverage so often becomes a celebration of the princess’s clothes, hair and accessories. And when Meghan wears expensive jewellery, those same details can become the basis of an entirely different story.
Nobody is suggesting Kate should remove her engagement ring before visiting a children’s hospice. But remember what happened when Meghan visited a women’s homelessness shelter in Melbourne in April? Sky News Australia’s Caroline Marcus called Meghan’s outfit “completely tone deaf,” criticising the combined value of her clothing, watch and jewellery as inappropriate for the setting.
Yet Kate can visit a children’s hospice wearing a sapphire engagement ring estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds without facing the same criticism in the Daily Mail’s coverage. Neither woman should have to remove valuable jewellery to support a charity, and the estimated value of Kate’s ring does not represent money she could simply have donated that morning. But why should Meghan’s jewellery be treated as an insult to vulnerable people while Kate’s is accepted without question?
The criticism is about consistency. If Meghan’s jewellery is fair game for extravagant outfit calculations, Kate’s jewellery should be too. And if journalists decide that including wedding rings, inherited heirlooms and watches produces misleading headlines, perhaps they could extend that consideration to the Duchess of Sussex.
Because a sapphire engagement ring estimated to be worth around £500,000 does not suddenly become invisible simply because the woman wearing it is the future queen.
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