Another week, another “royal favourite” wobbling on the edge. LK Bennett, long framed as a staple of Kate Middleton’s wardrobe, has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators. The move sparked the usual headlines about elegance, influence and royal pull. There is an awkward footnote that the coverage prefers to skip. Kate and her family are no strangers to administration themselves. Her parents’ business, Party Pieces, collapsed into administration after years of decline. The numbers at LK Bennett tell the same colder story. Visibility did not save the business, and history suggests it rarely does.
LK Bennett’s Financial Reality Tells a Harsher Story
LK Bennett confirmed on January 14 that it had filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators at the High Court. The filing grants a brief legal pause that shields the company from creditor action while advisers assess options. It marked the second such notice in weeks, following an earlier filing on December 30.
The brand’s latest accounts show a post-tax loss of £3.5 million on turnover of £42.1 million for the year ending January 27, 2024. Once a high street fixture with around 200 outlets, LK Bennett now operates just nine stores and 13 concessions. That contraction did not happen quietly or suddenly. It followed years of declining footfall, rising costs and failed turnarounds.
The company already passed through administration once before. In 2019, its Chinese franchise partner Byland UK rescued the business and installed a new leadership structure. Optimistic statements followed. The structural pressures remained. Royal exposure did not change the balance sheet then, and it has not done so now.
Embed from Getty ImagesHow Kate Middleton Became a Headline Shortcut for Value
The so-called Kate Effect looks increasingly threadbare. Far from lifting brands, association with Kate Middleton has coincided with a steady run of retail trouble. One designer after another has struggled to stay afloat, even while headlines continue to hail her as a commercial force.
The timing makes the contrast harder to ignore. Just days after glowing claims about Kate’s influence circulated in the UK press, a Kate-inspired wool coat was quietly slashed to half price by Karen Millen. The markdown landed in the middle of winter, when coats should sell at full margin. Retailers do not discount hero products during peak season unless demand has failed to materialise.
This pattern repeats elsewhere. Tabitha Designs Ltd, whose brightly coloured dresses have been worn by Kate has collapsed with debts exceeding £700,000, including around £50,000 owed to HMRC. The numbers are public. The outcome is not flattering.
Polls, Optics and PR Comfort Offer No Protection
Recent YouGov figures routinely place senior royals at the top of the favourability table. On several occasions, Kate Middleton has ranked among the most popular royals overall and remains the most popular female royal by a clear margin. What they never explain is how approval ratings translate into jobs saved or businesses protected.
The contrast with Meghan Sussex is striking. Despite polling at the bottom of the same surveys, Meghan’s fashion impact remains immediate and measurable. When she wears a product, it sells out. When she collaborates, stock disappears. Her recent As Ever bookmark partnership with UK female-owned brand Sbri sold out within minutes. Her recent chocolate collaboration with Compartés under the As Ever label went live, and all three bars sold out almost instantly.
YouGov’s methodology helps explain the disconnect. The firm uses non-probability online sampling, then applies weighting to approximate the wider population. The approach delivers speed and neat narratives. It does not deliver neutrality. Even taken at face value, the results capture mood rather than behaviour.
High ratings flatter palace briefings and fill headlines. They do not shift tills or stabilise retailers. In fashion, the difference between symbolic approval and consumer action remains stark, however often the numbers get recycled.
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Final Thoughts
LK Bennett’s crisis exposes a stubborn media habit. Royal association still gets sold as commercial insulation, despite years of evidence to the contrary. The high street does not collapse because a princess wore the wrong shoes. It collapses because costs rise, demand shifts and financing dries up.
Kate Middleton’s image continues to perform well in polls and pictures. Brands, however, live or die on cash flow. In that equation, optics remain cheap, and administration filings stay very real.
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Well one thing is consistent with kiti, she is a flop, everything she touches turn to ashes. So if you are wise dont sell to her
I’m not a conspiracy theorist but I don’t believe the results of ANY of these polls. I doubt if anyone even knew the queen had a third son so I find it suspicious that Edward is in fifth place on the list, please, not everyone are as dumb as the royalists . Anyway I digress, if Kate and William are so popular why aren’t there massive amount of people breaking down the barriers to see them when they’re doing their engagements ? Why all those brands going out of business ????Could it be due to the clothes being too old fashioned ,especially for someone in their forties??? How could anyone follow Kates fashion style when she mostly wears coat dresses that are not versatile enough to be worn more than once??? I believe Kate and William believe that being next in line for the throne ,and with the hype from the sycophantic media and royal rotas that they don’t believe that they have to put any efforts whatsoever into what they do for their so called work, if it was up to them I believe they would do none of the engagements they do at present. Their interactions always appear soulless as they’re there not because they want or believe in what they’re doing but because they’re asked ,so the feeling is missing , hence they are in their forties and have achieved nothing . The media keeps pushing the narrative of what they’ll do when they’re crowned, but why the wait? I’ve never seen or heard of someone who have so much privilege, Influence and wealth already ,deciding to wait until they are old to start building their legacy .
I have been told by Brit’s who have signed up to receive polls from YOU.GOV that in all the years they were registered the have never once received a poll regarding the RF or any of its members. So it makes you wonder who votes? And if Kate is so popular, why did her Christmas Carol concert flop again? She has
No impact whatsoever on anything. Even the piano playing with Charlotte was fake. Even Stevie Wonder could see that.
I do not understand why the Sussexes are included in these favourability polls which are surveys of customer satisfaction.They do not qualify as working royals ( a category introduced after their departure for the US) and they are not supported from the public purse.