Every Worst-Dressed Royal At Trooping The Colour 2024

Some of the royal family's most memorable moments have transpired at Trooping the Colour, but a few of those happy memories have been tainted by a tinge of sartorial cringe. As obsessive as they are about protocol, the royals don't always stick to the sophisticated, refined looks we've come to expect from the aristocracy.

The Trooping the Colour ceremony is an opportunity for King Charles III to give himself a pat on the back for simply existing, as it serves as a second birthday for the British monarch. He also has it easy when it comes to prepping for his special day — the king has to wear a military uniform to the event, so if it doesn't look great on him, well, he can just blame tradition. It's the royal women who have to stress over how they dress, putting them most at risk of winding up on roundups of the Trooping the Colour's worst-dressed attendees — as Queen Camilla learned in 2023 when she decided to match King Charles by sporting a scarlet ensemble. 

No one is here to begrudge the royalists who steep their cuppas and feel their hearts swell with pride when they take in a spectacle steeped in tradition, but it's time to humble some of the upper-crusters who get to witness the pomp, the pageantry, the military horse parades, and the headwear fails firsthand.

Queen Camilla's 2024 Trooping the Colour outfit was a far cry from the splashy scarlet look that she wore one year prior. She opted to play it safe with a more subdued color palette, sporting a pale green Anna Valentine dress and a white Philip Treacy hat. Where she went wrong was with the latter's design.

Camilla's signature hairstyle is a fluffy, feathered bob with a significant amount of volume. This can give her a bit of a bobblehead silhouette, but somehow, her hat still looked far too large for her head. It also had a few too many floral appliques piled on top of it, contributing to its heavy appearance. It was almost as if she wanted to feel the weight of a crown.

There's certainly nothing wrong with borrowing clothing — it's an economically sound and environmentally friendly practice, after all. However, Lady Louise Windsor should have snagged a different hat from her mother's collection. Her lavender, platter-shaped headwear appeared to be the same bespoke Jane Taylor piece that Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, wore to the Royal Ascot in 2023. Lady Louise paired it with a floral tea dress that featured a high neckline and long sleeves.

It really looked like Lady Louise was playing dress-up as her mom, as the outfit was a bit too mature for her. And because her hat resembled a plate, the yellow blossoms affixed to it looked like a garnish you might get at a fancy restaurant — you know, the type that makes you fret over whether it's edible or not.

It was exciting — and relieving — when Kate Middleton announced that she would be attending Trooping the Colour amid her cancer treatment. So, her inclusion here might be controversial. However, she did herself a disservice with a look that was heavily Audrey Hepburn-coded. Instead of bringing us classic Kate, she wore an outfit that was too much like a costume.

The black-and-white striped details on her white Jenny Packham dress — especially the bow on her shoulder — seemed like an obvious nod to Hepburn's iconic Ascot outfit in "My Fair Lady." Her Philip Treacy hat even looked like a significantly slimmed-down version of Eliza Doolittle's statement headwear. Unfortunately for Kate, Meghan Markle already sported a less spot-on take on the look at the Royal Ascot in 2018. And the last thing Kate needs right now is some sartorial sister-in-law drama.