The deeper reason why Queen Mary is embracing a very specific rule from Kate Middleton's style playbook

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Princess Kate and Queen Mary of Denmark are considered among the most stylish modern royals.
For years, their respective sartorial looks and styling choices have been deemed flawless by style watchers.
Indeed, a new piece worn by either the British Princess or the Danish Queen had the ability to spark a frenzy among shoppers – particularly when it was an affordable high street buy.
But pundits have recently noticed a significant shift in both royal women's style choices of late.
Namely, both Queen Mary, 53, and Princess Kate, 43, are re-wearing and recycling beloved pieces from their closet more than ever.
In a bygone era, a royal wearing the same outfit repeatedly was a fashion faux pas. But in today's environmentally-conscious world, circular fashion has become accepted and even excepted.
Outfit repeating is certainly not new to either of the respective wives of Prince William or King Frederik X. Over the years, both stylish royal mothers have been known to on occasion re-wear beloved items like jackets, shoes and dresses.
However, in 2025 there appears to be a distinct increase in the number of occasions that both royals have opted to dive into their own wardrobe.
Now, style watchers speculate that it may be a result of a watershed move made about Princess Kate earlier this year – and it could have impacted on Queen Mary too.
Back in February, a statement was released by a Kensington Palace spokesperson declaring that they would no longer be regularly issuing details about Kate's outfits, which is something they'd routinely done in the past.
A palace source told The Times: 'There is an absolute feeling that it [the public-facing work] is not about what the princess is wearing.'
'She wants the focus to be on the really important issues, the people and the causes she is spotlighting.
'There will always be an appreciation of what the princess is wearing from some of the public and she gets that. But do we need to be officially always saying what she is wearing? No. The style is there but it's about the substance.'
By contrast, when Queen Camilla wears an outfit, Buckingham Palace continues to offer details about her attire.
The announcement came after Princess Kate endured a particularly difficult previous year, having been diagnosed with cancer and undergone chemotherapy treatment in 2024.
As the Princess of Wales made her return to royal engagements and being in the public eye, the statement about her new fashion ethos was interpreted as the ushering in of a new era.
The Princess then appeared to back up this fashion information blackout by opting to more frequently re-wear previously worn outfits.
Within the past year, 12 out of 18 of Kate's public appearances have seen her re-work old favourites from her wardrobe.
The decision to recycle a previously seen outfit has the effect of lessening media attention on what Kate is wearing.
As a result, any coverage of the Princess becomes focused on the reason for her along with the particular causes of significance to her.
Further to all of this, there's also the added aspect of Kate's husband Prince William's carving out his legacy initiative in the environmentally focused Earthshot Prize.
Kate's decision to embrace circular fashion is therefore also on brand for both the Prince and Princess of Wales.
All of which brings us back to the impact this decision could potentially have had on Queen Mary of Denmark.
In recent years, both women have taken on increasingly prominent positions within their respective royal families.
This has come with increased royal engagements, responsibilities and a dedication to pursuing causes that are meaningful to them.
Both women therefore seem to be letting go of the idea that fashionable new outfits are required for every outing and are instead letting their work do the talking.
And the simplest way to do this is by making their fashion looks a repetitive non-event.
Just as Kate has stepped up her reliance on old faithfuls from her closet, so too has Mary increasingly become a fan of outfit repeats – all while still being extremely stylish.
Some of the Australian-born Queen's most recent outings have involved her wearing clothes we've seen before.
For instance, when Mary and Frederik hosted a UN Chief Executives dinner, the Queen revived a beloved Erdem Narella print pleated chiffon dress that she'd previously worn on numerous occasions, including during a 2023 state visit from Norwegian royals, King Harald and Queen Sonja.
Even recent important birthday occasions have seen Mary trundle out previously seen frocks.
At Prince Frederik's 57th birthday balcony appearance, Mary wheeled out one of her many Soeren Le Schmidt dresses. Then, at her daughter Princess Isabella's 18th birthday gala in April, she reached for her By Malene Birger off-the shoulder top and long sequin silver skirt - a combo she first debuted 17 years earlier.
The Aussie-born royal's comfortability with recycling her outfits was even more apparent during some of the biggest events on the royal Danish calendar.
The New Year's reception at Christiansborg Palace is a royal tradition – and significantly, this year's was Mary and Frederik's first as Queen and King.
Surely an event of this magnitude and formality cries out for a new extravagant ball gown.
And yet, Mary surprised fashion pundits by instead re-wearing a signature favourite in her blue Julie Fagerholt gown.
As the New Year celebrations continued, Mary continued to stun style watchers by re-wearing another formal favourite in her Teri Jon by Rickie Freeman gold and white gown.
Environmental conscious behaviour is a cornerstone of Frederik and Mary's reign - just as it will one day be for future reigning British couple, Wills and Kate.
So on that level alone, it makes sense that Queen Mary continues to – as she's always done – make sustainable choices when it comes to her outfits.
Mary reiterated this message last year's Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, telling the crowd: 'Our planet is beautiful and fragile and we have a responsibility to protect and preserve it for our children and coming generations.'
But beyond it being a sensible sustainability choice, there is potential that Mary may also be following Kate's fashion lead and starting to advantageously use outfit repetition as a means to ensure that the focus remains on the issues of importance to her and her royal legacy.
Watch this (closet) space.