Kate Middleton Poignantly Honors Late Mother-in-Law Princess Diana Two Days in a Row at Remembrance Events

Kate Middleton has paid sartorial tribute to her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, for the second day in a row.

After honoring the late Princess of Wales — who died at age 36 on Aug. 31, 1997 — on Nov. 9 at the Festival of Remembrance at Royal Albert Hall, Princess Kate did so again on Nov. 10 at Remembrance Sunday at The Cenotaph war memorial in London.

On Nov. 9, the Princess of Wales, 42, wore a pair of Collingwood pearl earrings that once belonged to Princess Diana. Kate also brought back her sapphire and diamond engagement ring that once belonged to Diana, which Kate has worn off-and-on throughout 2024, sometimes preferring to wear a ring stack that didn’t feature the iconic piece that originally garnered attention in 1981, upon the engagement of then-Lady Diana Spencer to Prince Charles.

On Nov. 10, Kate gave another sartorial nod to Diana by wearing a black look from Catherine Walker & Co., one of Diana’s go-to designers throughout her life in the public eye. Arguably Diana’s favorite designer, Walker was also a friend of the princess, and Diana wore her creations from early in her royal life — including while on tour in Australia with Prince Charles and Prince William in 1983 — to its far-too-soon end in 1997. Famous examples of Walker’s designs worn by Princess Diana include her so-called “Elvis dress” in November 1989, worn to present the British Designer of the Year Award at the British Fashion Awards in London — which Walker didn’t win. The next day, Diana sent Walker a note that said, simply, “To my designer of the year.”

“As with all our clients who are in the public eye and attend high profile events, we worked very closely with Diana to ensure what she wore was appropriate and she — not the clothes — was the star,” Said Cyrus, Walker’s widow, told PEOPLE. (Walked died of breast cancer in 2010 at age 65.) “My wife and I spent a great deal of time researching what she wore for official visits abroad, even visiting countries in advance to make sure we had it right. We tried to ensure that our designs bridged her ambassadorial role for her own country and also paid respect to each destination.”

All the way up until the end of her life, Princess Diana wore Walker’s designs, including in June 1997, when she wore an ice blue cocktail dress to a party held for the auction of her clothes at Christie’s in New York City, and in July 1997 to her last official daytime appearance before her death the next month — a belted red dress during a visit to Northwick Park & St. Mark’s Hospital in Harrow, Middlesex, England to celebrate the creation of their new Children’s Ambulatory Care Centre.

“The relationship between the House and Diana was positive and professional,” Cyrus said. “We saw our job as giving her the tools of her trade. She was always very polite, very courteous and very appreciative. She was never late for an appointment, and whenever she wore a dress that was admired, she’d thank us.”

The relationship between Diana and Walker grew so close that it “reach[ed] a point of shorthand,” Walker wrote in her 1998 autobiography. She added, “Designing for the princess … was about beauty and dreams” and wrote she was surprised by “The princess’s ease and modesty, and the fact that, despite the guidance she was given, nothing could really be enough for the awesome situation she was faced with.”

It was Walker who was tasked with the devastating final act of providing a dress for Diana to be laid to rest in following her death, which occurred following a car accident in Paris. Walker called this creation “the saddest and most difficult commission of my life.”

Since marrying into the royal family in 2011, Kate — who frequently channels her mother-in-law through her clothing choices — has turned to Catherine Walker on many occasions, as has Kate’s mother Carole Middleton, who poignantly wore an ice blue Catherine Walker creation to the wedding of her eldest daughter to Prince William on April 29, 2011.

“We are delighted and honored to have been asked to design a day outfit for Mrs. Carole Middleton on the happy occasion of her daughter’s wedding,” the design house said in a statement at the time.

Of Kate often paying homage to Diana through fashion, “I think we have seen lots of examples where the reference is very intentional, and I think that Kate uses fashion to pay tribute to Diana in a very positive way,” Bethan Holt, Fashion News and Features Director at The Daily Telegraph, told PEOPLE.

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“I think that William and Kate between them might have decided that actually on some occasions it’s a really nice thing for Kate to reference the fact that Diana is still a fashion muse today, and to do that through her own clothes,” she continued, adding of Kate that she “makes it her own without looking like she’s playing ‘dress up as Diana.’ ”