Crowning Glory: Meet Meg Bellamy, The Crown’s Kate Middleton

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Hi Vogue, I'm Meg Bellamy

and I'm gonna be taking you through

the iconic looks of Kate Middleton.

Ah, so starting off with a good one.

This is the fashion show look

that Kate Middleton wore at university.

It was for charity.

Supposedly it was a skirt and she kind of pulled it up

last minute to make a bit more of a statement.

That just says a lot about

Kate in terms of going after what she wants and

feeling confident in what she wears.

Creating the look was really interesting.

We had a few fittings for it

and there was lots of like layering of different

mesh and it was very intricate and really fun.

And then on the actual day the energy was amazing,

we had like Kylie Minogue blasting on the speakers,

and the crowds were cheering and honestly

it was just amazing to wear

this kind of dress that I grew up knowing about.

So this was a fun one and I think she looks amazing.

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So this next look is at Blenheim Palace

while she was still at university.

I dunno what she's sitting on,

that looks very impressive, maybe a stool.

She's wearing a kind of tweed skirt,

an overcoat, very cool.

And these boots do feel familiar in terms of

wearing them in the show,

kind of like a horsey, country bumpkin type

look that I think was quite prevalent in

Kate's group growing up in the countryside at the time.

And it's a look we kind of are inspired by in the show,

I think I wear kind of similar tweed skirt and everything.

And that was really great in terms of stepping into that

more country lifestyle.

Kate studied art history at university and

in terms of her physicality,

working with our movement coach Polly Bennett

was another really fascinating aspect of the research.

It's tricky because there's not a lot of footage,

there's no footage of how she speaks,

there's definitely not a lot of footage

of how she walks and moves

in the era that I play her, in her university years.

So I kind of did a lot of studying her now

and watching how she walks,

how she interacts with different people,

and how that differentiates

based off of who she's speaking to

and then kind of trying to de-royalify her.

So I incorporated that.

There'd be little things like always holding her bag

over her shoulder and holding it

on her right shoulder, just very specific things that

whenever I had a bag I was like, Great, I got to do that.

So this look is at a charity polo match

and William and Harry are also in attendance

and it's kind of, she's just left university.

People know about her now

in terms of the general public in the press

and people are starting to kind of

really have conversations about her.

And I think it's lovely because

this to me is a very distinctive

younger Kate Middleton look,

you know, the low-rise jeans, the vest and the cardigan.

It's something that we really are inspired by in the show

and I quite like that she's still keeping her own

fashion sense and her own style

within the kind of press frenzy I suppose.

Our director, May el-Toukhy

had the great and very useful idea,

after we'd had a fitting

we could take home an outfit that really felt

kind of quintessentially our character.

So I took home a similar outfit to this,

I think it was similar kind of low-rise jeans,

some heels, just to kind of walk around the house

when you're practicing lines,

when you're practicing the voice,

just to feel her much more,

it really helps everything come together.

But it was really interesting wearing things like this

because it was very alien for me.

This look was at a wedding

and the dress is designed by Issa,

which was her favorite fashion house at the time.

This to me is much more

like what she wears today, more royal I guess.

I know obviously it's a wedding so you have

a more formal setting, but

it makes me think of kind of that

change in demeanor and also change in voice

and to prepare for Kate's voice

as much as we both grew up in Berkshire,

so we have very similar accents,

we have completely different vocal tones

and things like that and that was really

fascinating to learn about.

I worked with our vocal coach,

William Conacher, who is a legend.

My voice we learnt is chesty slightly,

I guess rougher and she's much more kind of light and airy.

And her vowels are so distinctive, so

my favorite ones to kind of practice,

I say like oh and stuff and she says oh, oh,

and you kind of spread your mouth a little bit.

And E's are lovely, like lovely, you know, things like that.

So this next look is from the engagement interview.

So this is after

it had been announced that they were engaged to be married.

And I love this blue dress, I think it's so gorgeous,

this royal blue.

This was Diana's sapphire engagement ring

that William gave to her, so really, really special.

I think maybe the kind of blue inspiration and connection

is maybe a nod and out of respect to Diana.

I think it's a really classy, lovely way to honor her.

And I really also love that in the interview

William says, I think they're asked about,

you know, Kate filling Diana's shoes or something like that

and they make it really clear that,

you know, Diana's shoes can't be filled,

she was so special in her own right, and that

it's kind of just nice to have a piece of her close,

but that there's no expectation on Kate

to kind of fill this role.

And I've seen this interview to death

because it was so useful working out her voice

because it's probably the youngest

and also the most kind of informal that she chats,

you know, it's not a speech,

it's kind of in conversation with

and she's speaking to William as well,

so he would be kind of a source of calmness I guess for her.

So this is the famous, of course, wedding that Kate wore.

Designed by Sarah Burton and Alexander McQueen.

And I just love this look so much,

this dress is so beautiful.

It's inspired sort of by Grace Kelly.

The flowers are kind of a nod to Britain and

she also wore a Cartier kind of halo tiara

that she received from the Queen,

which I think just really symbolizes her acceptance

and being welcomed into the royal family officially.

It's just so beautiful and a lovely kind of

commemoration of her.

And I remember this, my mom actually had

a royal wedding party

'cause she was very excited

and I was quite young at the time and with friends,

so we were kind of

in the garden like having cake and weren't that bothered,

but I remember being like, Tell me when they kiss,

tell me when they're on the balcony.

And that was very exciting,

but there was a nice moment where

when I was kind of sat on the stairs

and I'd caught a glimpse of her saying her vows.

And I remember just watching her and being completely

awestruck with her, like we all were.

And just thinking that just how

incredible and surreal that that situation must have been,

you know, the millions and millions

and millions of people that are watching her

and just really kind of feeling for her,

I think we all connected to her in a way.

So this look is her first kind of

meeting with the public with Prince George, her first child.

There's a lovely realness to the dress that she chose

in the sense that it's a short

kind of flowy summary dress and

she's not hiding her body,

there's, of course, nothing to be ashamed of and

I know that that pregnancy was really tough for her

and she had so much morning sickness and everything,

so I just think it shows the strong

leader that she is and

just how kind of stoic she can be in

such vulnerable and tricky times.

So this is the dress she wore for the

2021 No Time to Die James Bond premier

and a gold dress inspired by Goldfinger.

And I think it's so killer, it's just amazing,

I love the gold detail at the top

and the way it kind of flows out at the bottom.

I think her style

has definitely evolved throughout the years

from being kind of in university

where she has this kind of, like I was saying,

the country bumpkin, more horse girl aesthetic

and then when she becomes a royal,

it's just very chic and elevated and elegant

in so many ways.

I know definitely since having a stylist myself now

and being so privileged to work with these amazing brands,

how it does change your style, having the freedom

to be able to experiment and be bold and

seeing how style can really

be an authentic expression of yourself.

This look was for the State Banquet.

It's beautiful, very regal.

The dress is designed by Jenny Packham

and she's also wearing Queen Mary's Lover's Knot Tiara.

I think it was the first tiara she wore

in about three years.

And it was also a favorite of Princess Diana's,

it's just cool to know the history about it,

I think it's like a century old.

I think it's really lovely that she's wearing

this jewelry that belonged to Princess Diana

as kind of a way to honor her.

It's a lovely way of having her close and

keeping that memory of her really prevalent and alive.

I'm sure it's really lovely for William as well to see.

Ah, this is one of my favorite looks of hers.

I think she looks amazing, I love the

black gloves with the white dress.

The dress is Alexander McQueen

and this actually marks their first

event as the Prince and Princess of Wales,

it's the BAFTA's in 2023.

And she's wearing Zara earrings as well,

which I just think is really cool and very grounded and

things like that, not everything is designer for her.

And I just love this look, I think she looks killer.

This is the Princess of Wales

look for the King's coronation,

which was a very special day.

And she's dressing in a beautiful blue,

which is according to her rank, which is the

Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order,

which she was anointed in 2019 by Queen Elizabeth

and she's also wearing an Alexander McQueen dress underneath

with a rose, which signifies England

and it was just a very exciting day.

I live nearby to where this took place

so you could kind of really feel

on the week leading up to it,

the excitement and the buzz of everybody.

I could hear the marching band practicing

at like four in the morning, which was fun.

And they did great, well done marching band.

It's just a very exciting event, I think,

a lovely excuse for everyone to celebrate.

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Thank you so much for having me, Vogue.

It's been such a pleasure

to look through the life of looks of the Princess of Wales.

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