Inside Kate Middleton and Queen Camilla's Fashion 'Exchange': They're a 'Unit Together'

The royal women are working together to perfect diplomatic dressing, says royal style expert

Kate Middleton and Queen Camilla are taking turns to shine!

To kick off the state visit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Lady Kim Keon Hee, Kate dazzled in head-to-toe red as she joined her husband Prince William, King Charles and Camilla to greet their guests at Horse Guards Parade on Tuesday morning.

Wearing a bespoke structured red cape in bright red, the bow of a perfectly matching dress (worn previously to her Christmas carol service in 2021) both by Catherine Walker & Co. peeking through the cape, it was the daytime equivalent of wearing a ballgown; it demanded attention.

Camilla’s choice of a demure dark blue wool dress and matching jacket with chic frayed edges by Anna Valentine and a Philip Treacy beret hat with feathered plume detailing was a much more discreet look considering her status. However, the combined look of both women was actually a feat of flag dressing, perfectly nodding to the Taegeukgi symbol on the flag of South Korea which is both red and blue.

In addition, Charles and William in their navy jackets and white shirts (complete with red tie for William and blue for Charles) proved the perfect finishing touches to the South Korean flag. “I think it definitely cemented how synchronised the four of them are,” Bethan Holt, fashion director at The Telegraph tells PEOPLE adding: “There is a real sense of them being a unit together and the flag dressing really underlined that.”

Accessorized with red stiletto heels, matching wide-brimmed hat and red clutch bag, Kate’s monochrome and striking look also ticked multiple boxes. The cape was designed to work around her existing bow-detail dress ticking the re-wear box, it certainly grabbed the attention of the photographers, making her outfit pop way more than any other. It was also a practical choice of outerwear considering the chilly November weather.

However, when it came to the evening event, a state banquet held at Buckingham Palace which saw 170 guests come together for a decadent dinner at which Charles referenced K-pop stars Blackpink and BTS during his speech, it was Camilla’s look which arguably drew more attention. “Kate looked stunning but Camilla really went bold in that red velvet gown,” Holt, author of the book The Queen: 70 Years of Majestic Style states.

“I think Kate looked incredibly regal in the day; I think Camilla looked like a new kind of regal in the evening. You could feel this kind of exchange going on between them, which I think is really interesting,” explains Holt.

While Kate dusted off the Queen Mother's Strathmore tiara, which has been in the vaults for nearly a century, Camilla also pulled a tiara first by wearing the Burmese Ruby tiara, worn by the late Queen Elizabeth II on multiple occasions. “That was Camilla’s big fashion moment in the evening although obviously everyone was talking about Kate’s tiara so that did take away from it a little bit but for the most senior royal woman to be in such a fashion look, it felt like a departure, definitely.”

It’s not the first time that Camilla and Kate have joined forces in the name of sartorial symbolism. For the historic May coronation of both Charles and Camilla, the royal women worked together with the esteemed Royal School of Needlework to make sure the floral embroidery on their dresses hit just the right mark.

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While Camilla’s ornate ivory dress was made by her longtime friend Bruce Oldfield and Kate’s was by her go-to designer Alexander McQueen, both dresses featured roses, thistles, daffodils and shamrocks to represent the four nations of the U.K. “Kate and Camilla together were involved,” royal embroiderer Chloe Savage exclusively told PEOPLE at the time, adding: “The whole floral theme, if you look at the train of Camilla, her Robes of State which were custom done, full of embroidery.”

While Kate has been making bold colours a big part of her daytime uniform and dramatic capes a go-to when it comes to state banquets (she wore a similar Jenny Packham dress in 2022), compared to Camilla’s more conservative choices, it’s not something that Holt thinks will be a problem going forward. “I feel like Camilla is dressing the part but I don’t think she has any ambitions to be kind of be a bold fashionista, the centre of attention where as Kate knows this is part of her role.”

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