Kate Wears Cambridge Blue as She Comes Face-to-Face With Lifelike Portrait

Kate Middleton wore a signature tribute shade of blue as she came face-to-face with a lifelike portrait during an official visit to Cambridgeshire on Thursday—the county from which the royal takes her title, the duchess of Cambridge.

Alongside husband, Prince William, Kate attended a day of engagements throughout the English county, starting with the unveiling of a special portrait at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

The portrait is the first to be painted of Kate and William together, with the artist, Jamie Coreth, commenting that: "It has been the most extraordinary privilege of my life to be chosen to paint this picture."

"I wanted to show Their Royal Highnesses in a manner where they appeared both relaxed and approachable, as well as elegant and dignified," he added.

"As it is the first portrait to depict them together, and specifically during their time as The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, I wanted the image to evoke a feeling of balance between their public and private lives."

For Thursday's engagements Kate wore an L.K. Bennett print day dress in pale shades of blue and orange and with this she paired an elegant longline blue coat.

The Daily Mail reported that the dress Kate chose for the occasion dates back to L.K. Bennett's 2015 collection, though this is the first time we have seen the duchess wearing it publicly.

The color of Kate's coat was a shade of blue that's often referred to as Cambridge blue, being one of the colors adopted by the University of Cambridge. Kate owns many coats, coat dresses and accessories in this Cambridge blue hue, notably worn to the 2022 Easter Sunday service at Windsor Castle.

With her outfit, the royal wore pale blue suede high heels reported to be from the London-based accessories brand Emmy London and a matching suede clutch bag.

Despite Kate's summery appearance, it wasn't this outfit that all eyes were drawn to but, in fact, the one worn for the portrait sitting with Coreth.

In the painting, Kate is depicted wearing a striking green metallic shimmer dress by indie brand The Vampire's Wife. The mid-length dress gives an element of drama to the portrait with layered flounces and arm ruffles.

Also in the portrait, Kate wears a pair of shoes closely resembling the "Hagisi" style from Manolo Blahnik made famous by Sarah Jessica Parker in the first Sex and the City movie.

With her outfit, Kate is shown wearing heritage pearl jewelry from the collections of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana.

As well as visiting the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Cambridges also stopped to meet children at East Anglia's Children's Hospice (EACH), an organization that Kate has been patron of for 10 years and that she has publicly visited four times previously.

At the hospice, William and Kate met with patients and their families before getting involved with some arts and crafts activities and attending a reception thanking the hospice's staff.

After this, the royals had two more stops on their tour of Cambridgeshire including a visit to the housing charity Jimmy's, during which they learned about how the organization is helping the homeless throughout the county.

William recently drew attention to the work being done to assist Britain's homeless population in a special collaboration with The Big Issue, a magazine started to provide people experiencing homelessness with a way to earn a living. It was announced ahead of his 40th birthday.

The prince spent an afternoon selling The Big Issue with vendor Dave Martin and wrote an article on his experience, which featured in the next publication. In it he said:

"I was 11 when I first visited a homeless shelter with my mother, who in her own inimitable style was determined to shine a light on an overlooked, misunderstood problem."

"In the 30-odd years since, I've seen countless projects in this space grow from strength to strength, including charities of which I have had the honour of being Patron."

After visiting Jimmy's the couple traveled to the Cambridgeshire County Day celebrations, which saw over 120 exhibitors displaying the finest products made in the area.