This week, the Telegraph did an interview with children’s clothing designer Amaia Arrieta, who has operated the Amaia London line of kids’ clothing for many years. The clothing line is very popular in general, even more so now that Prince William and Kate’s children are regularly photographed in Amaia London clothes. There’s a timeless quality to some of the pieces, but there’s also something vaguely 1940s about still insisting little boys wear shorts or knickerbockers with high socks. But I digress. I didn’t know that Amaia Arrieta is a Spanish-born designer who used to import Spanish kids’ clothes to the UK. I also didn’t know that she was so close with William, Kate and Nanny Maria. Some highlights from this Telegraph piece:
Dressing the Wales kids: ‘Dressing the royals gives me so much pride, I really do care about how they look,’ reflects Arrieta. ‘I’m heartbroken at the moment, I think they are going through hell, I hope they will be back. It’s really personal.’
Looking for traditional clothes for kids: Arrieta founded Amaia ‘out of necessity’. Spanish-born, she had just given up a career in international finance in London when she was expecting her first child 20 years ago. ‘I started to look for kids’ clothing and I couldn’t really find the equivalent of what I would have in Spain so I would go to Spain, buy everything there and come back to London. Then all my friends would say “Oh, that’s so cute, I want the same”.’
Kate found about the fashion line through Lady Serena Linley: Members of the Royal family were clients long before William and Catherine started their family. Although it’s often assumed that the connection came from the Waleses’ Spanish nanny Maria Borrallo, it was in fact Lady Serena Linley (the former wife of Princess Margaret’s son, David Armstrong Jones, now the Earl of Snowdon) and her children’s nanny Jessie Webb, a regular visitor to Amaia’s Chelsea store, who helped introduce the now Princess of Wales to Arrieta’s designs. Webb had previously cared for William and Harry and was drafted in to help with George in the early days.
She works closely with Nanny Maria: Now Arrieta works closely with Borrallo to find the perfect outfits for the children. ‘It’s often a very tight deadline,’ Arrieta explains, hinting at the intense preparation which goes on behind the scenes to create the picture-perfect moments for which the family is renowned. ‘We would do anything for them… the children always look amazing in the end.’
“I’m heartbroken at the moment, I think they are going through hell, I hope they will be back.” That’s truly more than anyone else has said about what’s going on behind the scenes, and it’s certainly not how William is representing Kate’s health these days. I also think it’s notable that Amaia works so closely with Maria Borrallo on the kids’ clothes, and that there’s a Spanish connection.
Speaking of Spanish connections, remember Concha Calleja? She’s the Spanish journalist who claimed, back in late January, that the Princess of Wales had been put into a medically induced coma at one point and that Kate’s condition was a lot more severe than the palace claimed. It took a week for Kensington Palace to deny the coma story using unnamed sources. But Calleja stuck with her reporting – she never backed down. This week, Concha Calleja spoke up again and said that “Kate is not well” and that the last time the public had a “real image” of Kate was Christmas 2023. Calleja also believes that Kate’s cancer-announcement video was manipulated, likely with AI technology. I did not have “mysterious Spanish-connected gossip” on my royal bingo card, but here we are.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Kensington Palace.