Two days after Kate Middleton debuted new hair, with an obviously dyed caramel-blonde color and excessive volume and tumbling curls, she dialed things back for outings on Saturday and Monday, returning to display the “smart” classic style that royal fans appreciate.
Yes, commenting on a woman’s personal appearance and hair-style choices can be a delicate matter. But the job of being the Princess of Wales and a global style icon tends to rest on her personal appearance. And, as the Daily Beast’s royal reporter Tom Sykes said, the future queen incited “the most polarizing royal story of the week” when she turned up at an event in London last Thursday, showing that she had transformed her signature “complex chestnut” hair into a lighter caramel blonde.
While the mainstream British media “dutifully praised” the new blonde locks Kate wore to Thursday’s event at the Natural History Museum, even annointing it “the start” of a new trend, people online had a much different opinion, according to the Daily Beast. They declared that she must be wearing “extremely expensive hair extensions” or even a wig.
While both accusations were denied by Kensington Palace, a stylist and make-up artist who has worked with various royals anonymously told the Daily Beast: “On Kate, it just looks a bit tacky. I hate to say it, but she looks more like an influencer than a royal.” Another source told the Daily Beast that the hair extensions and buttery curls were so “voluminous” and “out of proportion” that Kate “looked like a mermaid.”
At one point, Princess Diana’s former stylist Sam McKnight came to the defense of Prince William’s wife, writing on Instagram that her critics should be ashamed because “a woman’s hair is very personal to her. It’s armor, defense, confidence and so much more.” McKnight also reminded critics that Kate has been recovering from cancer, which “affects individuals differently, but is life changing for everyone.”
Nonetheless, other style experts said that going for a bouncy, blonde look undermined what has made Kate a style icon. “Her brunette locks have long set her apart as a sophisticated, elegant, royal — one who generally eschews ‘style trends,’ opting instead for a more classic, refined look,” stylist Jo Hayes of EtiquetteExpert.Org told the Daily Beast. “Personally, I think brunette suits her complexion far better than blonde. She is absolutely smashing as an elegant brunette.”
Hayes also said it’s possible that the blonde highlights were being used to cover incoming gray hair: “Blonde is generally easier than deep brown for such matters. But I think the future queen has enough hair helpers to keep on top of gray coverage.”
On Saturday, the blonde blow-out look was toned down when she attended the match between England and Australia at the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Her hair also was pulled back to show that she definitely wasn’t wearing a wig. In certain light, her hair also looked darker, as if she had totally gone back to being a brunette.
At an appearance with Monday, her chestnut hair appeared to have some blonde highlights, but it wasn’t voluminous and puffy on top, as it had been at the Natural History Museum. Kate joined William in paying tribute to his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, on the third anniversary of her death by visiting the Women’s Institute near their Windsor home. The late queen was an eight-decade member of the Women’s Institute and served as its president until her death in 2022.
For Kate’s appearances on Saturday and Monday, stylists told the Daily Mail and People that that she appears to have kept some of the blonde highlights but that her hair was back to a darker shade and styled in a “smart and practical way.”
The Daily Beast’s Sykes said that the princess should be able to experiment as much as she likes with her look, but neither she nor Kensington Palace can expect that she won’t be scrutinized if she appears in public with a dramatically different look. Kate’s “glossy, chestnut” hair has long been seen as her “aesthetic crowning glory,” as well “as an image of continuity at a time of much royal change.”
Unfortunately for Kate, the blonde look she wore last week “just didn’t read as royal” or as “unmistakably hers,” Sykes said. The “bouncy, buttery curls seemed like someone you are more likely to encounter on Instagram Reels than a Sandringham drawing room,” he added.