What does one wear for an event titled ‘Trooping the Colour’? For Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, the answer was obvious: keep it simple with all-white. The royal arrived at Buckingham Palace along with her husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, to celebrate King Charles’ official birthday, wearing an elegant short-sleeved white dress with a smart collar detail designed by British designer Roland Mouret, along with a matching hat by a Royal-favourite milliner, Jane Taylor.
Sophie led the parade on 13 June in a carriage with Sir Timothy Laurence, the husband of Princess Anne. While in the carriage and on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, we couldn’t spot a handbag (perhaps it was stowed out of view), but in behind the scenes photos from the occasion shared on the official Royal Family Instagram account, we spotted Sophie wearing white accessories, too.
Her bag in particular caught our eye – it’s the Iside Palmellato Handle Mini Bag by Italian handbag label Valextra, which retails for £4,100. Valextra is a designer Sophie is clearly a fan of. The Duchess of Edinburgh has previously worn bags by the label – the Valextra Brera Micro Crossbody Bag in Cashmere Beige for a visit to Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage in May, for example.
This particular white style is a bag that marries practicality with elegance. It’s made from fine, super-soft Palmellato Italian leather and has a crossbody leather strap along with a stylish top handle.
Alas, spending more than £4k on a bag isn’t in most of our budgets. But the good news is that we’ve found a similar option on the high street, currently on sale for just £63.20. The Seraphyna bag has the same off-white colour, top-handle detail and golden hardware as the Valextra bag Sophie wore.
Aldo Seraphyna Women’s Top Handle Bag
Aldo Seraphyna Women’s Top Handle Bag
Now 20% Off
Credit: Aldo
While at the event, Sophie was spotted enjoying her role as great-aunt to the younger royals in attendance, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. We’d like to think her twinning moment with Princess Charlotte, also wearing a collared white dress, was intentional and planned prior.
Chris Jackson
It looks like all the royal family who were there for the occasion had a fantastic time, observing more than 1,400 parading soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians taking part in the military display. The parade travelled from Buckingham Palace down The Mall to Horse Guards Parade, with Princess Anne and Prince Edward taking part on horseback (hence their spouses being paired together in the carriage).
Samir Hussein
The celebration of the King’s birthday concluded with a Royal Air Force flypast, which Prince Edward, Sophie, Sir Timothy Laurence, Princess Anne, Queen Camilla, King Charles, Prince William, Catherine, Princess of Wales, and their three children were photographed watching from the balcony.
Trooping the Colour tends to be a fantastic opportunity to spot the younger Royals playing up – who can forget Prince Louis’ multiple scene-stealing moments from his first wave at the occasion to pulling faces in later years? Now eight years old, Prince Louis was on good behaviour this time around, but did provide entertainment with his awed expression. Judging from his ‘wow’ face and the lean he adopted for a better view, Louis found the flypast very impressive.
Karwai Tang
Karwai Tang
Prince George, meanwhile, made mum Catherine have a giggle on the balcony thanks to an unexpected sneeze. Hey, not even royals can stop a sneeze once it’s coming!