For many decades now, the Queen has had heavy lead weights sewn into the hems of her skirts by her dress maker Angela Miller.
It's a cheap, simple and reliable precaution against the embarrasment that may be caused if a gust of wind catches and blows up one's skirts—always a risk in a country as windy and gusty as her United Kingdom.
For some reason, Kate Middleton seems unwilling to emulate this entirely sensible protocol, and yesterday, for the umpteenth time, the wind was once again revealing portions of Kate's lower body without her consent.
To be honest, Kate and her dressers should have seen this coming. All week, the newspapers have been reporting that the tail-end of Hurricane Gonzaolo was set to bring wild and blustery conditions to the UK yesterday.
The incident was nowhere near as bad as when Kate was photographed in Australia with her skirts blowing up so far that they exposed a revealing view of her butt, but still, as Kate attempted to do her duty, fighting hyperemesis graivadarum to greet the President of Singapore and his wife, the last thing she needed to be doing yesterday was holding down her skirts.
She was, fortunately, wearing stockings and a slip this time, but still it was an unfortunate—and entirely avoidable—distraction from the business of the day.
The excuse sometimes given for the failure by Kate's wardrobe team to customise her dresses and skirts with some wind-proofing is that the cheap high street brands she favors are not able to withstand the modifications.
This an excuse more flimsy than a TopShop maxi dress, but it absolutely does not apply to yesterday's debacle as kate was wearing a custom McQueen coat dress. You could sew lead piping into that and it wouldn't show up.
The blame ultimately must fall on Kate's wardrobe team for failign to protect her from such continued and repeated embarrasments. And perhaps here we approach the nub of the problem.
Kate - in her solidly middle-class way - has been extremely reluctant to hire a full-time wardrobe manager and dresser, preferring instead to rely on her friends, such as Emilia Jardine-Paterson (one of George's godparents) or the in-house stylists at her favored brands. She certainly does not feel the need for a full time dressmaker like Angela Kelly.
And, style-wise, Kate clearly gets it right, time after time.
Technically, however, the snafus keep coming.
Surely it's time for someone in the royal family—her husband perhaps—to discreetly show the latest pictures to Kate, and drop two words in her ear: hem weights.
