The Duchess of Cambridge is known for her sense of style when it comes to the obvious — like dresses, shoes, and hats — but Kate Middleton's accessories game is on point as well. She can rock a headband, earrings, and a clutch like nobody's business, and one area she particularly excels in is choosing sunglasses for the warmer months.
Most often, Kate wears sunglasses to Wimbledon where she wants to be sure that nothing, not even the sun, gets in her way of watching the tennis pros at work. But it's not just tennis competitions that inspire Kate to throw on a pair of sunnies. The UK doesn't always have sunny weather, but when it does, she's all about the shades.
By far, the duchess's favorite sunglasses brand is Ray-Ban. She has frames in a ton of colors and shapes that fans can copy as Ray-Bans are not super expensive as far as replicating Kate's looks go. Many royal supporters can wear the same sunglasses that she does without completely breaking the bank.
Over the years, Kate has tried different brands, though — from Givenchy to Chanel to Bulgari — although she usually reverts back to her Ray-Bans when push comes to shove. She also totally follows sunglasses trends, with some of her early pairs from around 2007 looking a little out of date in today's fashion world. But rest assured, they were totally trendy when she first wore them. Kate is nothing if not on top of the style moments.
Need a little inspiration for the summer? These sunglasses styles, shapes, and colors work on basically anyone, and they're Duchess of Cambridge approved.
Cat Eye
Kate Middleton's most-worn sunglasses brand is Ray-Ban, usually in a dark color. She sported a cat-eye version to Wimbledon in 2019. The dark glasses against her brown hair packed a punch. Sure, everyone was watching the tennis players on the court, but the duchess was just as eye-catching herself in these sunnies and striking green dress.
Borrowed From Pippa
As Kate drove to Meghan Markle's wedding rehearsal, she was seen wearing a pair of leopard print sunglasses. If they look familiar, it's because Pippa Middleton wore the same ones to Wimbledon way back in 2012. Maybe Kate owns her own pair, or perhaps she borrowed these from her sister. Either way, they're a pretty fun patterned pair to have.
Walking a Thin Line
The duchess looks so serious in this photo from Wimbledon 2018. Likely, her player wasn't performing that well, but even so, at least she looks great. That year, Kate opted for a pair of Ray-Bans with sleek, thin metal arms. These chic glasses are now sold out — probably because Kate fans scooped them up once they saw her wearing them.
Like Mother, Like Son
Prince Louis had some fun with his mom's sunglasses during an outing to watch Prince William and Prince Harry play polo. Kate probably has a ton of pairs, so its OK if Louis played with these and potentially scratched or broke them. Kids can be quite destructive, but the duchess seems totally unconcerned with letting Louis try things on for size.
Modern Headband
We know that Kate Middleton loves headbands, but she also frequently uses her sunglasses to keep her hair out of her eyes. It works in a pinch, and looks effortless in her gorgeous blown-out hair. Maybe next outing she'll skip the $1,000-plus fabric headband and just plop her sunnies on her head.
It's the same effect, TBH.
Squared Up
The Duchess of Cambridge has given all sorts of sunglasses shapes a try over the years. For this Wimbledon appearance, she went with a slightly boxier lens from Ray-Ban. The style looks so good on her, especially paired with her pearl earrings and patterned dress. Who knew that anyone could make sunglasses look so chic?
Clear Cut
Usually, Kate opts for a darker sunglasses frame, but she went with clear sunnies for a polo outing in 2018. The effect is that she looks a little breezier, since dark frames can sometimes overwhelm the face. The clear color also goes well with her light blue sundress. We can't tell what the brand is from here, but we're guessing she stuck with her tried and true Ray-Ban.
Boxy
The year 2007 was such a different time, fashion-wise. The duchess would never be caught in this outfit today, even though it was quite chic at the time. Her sunglasses frames were designed by none other than Coco Chanel, so we just know that she was super trendy with these square lenses — even though they're outdated now.
Framed
A trip to the sunny Taj Mahal in 2016 called for some eye protection, and the duchess whipped out her trusty Ray-Bans. These frames are black, which is a bit of a change from the brown she usually goes with to complement her hair. But even though there's a color contrast now, the dark lenses frame her face well without clashing with her hair or outfit. She knows what she's doing when it comes to picking out sunnies.
Color-Coordinated
Even though the black looked good, we prefer the brown frames that accent her flowing locks perfectly. These Ray-Bans also have brown lenses to really seal the color-coordination deal. (Kate loves nothing if not color-coordinating her accessories.) The duchess wore these sunglasses on a trip to a housing development, and they were the exact right choice.
Boater Friendly
Sunshine can easily reflect off the water's surface and wreak havoc on one's eyes, so we're glad that Kate was protected on this boating adventure. She wore (what else?) Ray-Bans! As far as Kate's clothing and accessories go, her sunglasses are on the inexpensive side, with most Ray-Ban glasses going for $100-$200. Not cheap, but not impossible for a Kate superfan to replicate.
That's nice of her.
Looking 'Round
For the 2012 Olympics, Kate donned a pair of sunglasses with a more rounded lens shape while watching tennis. They're by the brand Givenchy and don't actually look as out of date as they could, considering how long ago this was. Prince William's sunglasses, on the other hand, are definitely a little bit dated. But, hey, 2012 was a different time.
Funky Lenses
Speaking of dated sunglasses, these are on a whole other level. They're super fun and super daring, but no one would wear them these days. Kate sported the look to a polo match in 2006. Looking closely, we can see that not only are the arms white and brown, but the lenses have a gap between where the glass stops and the frame stops. It's a choice, but we kind of love Kate for going bold.
Tortoiseshell
Tortoiseshell sunglasses will seemingly never go out of style. They're always chic, always classy, and they look great no matter someone's skin shade or hair color. Kate's tortoiseshell glasses were made by Ray-Ban, of course. She wore this pair to cheer on runners in a charity marathon in 2017. It was early spring, so the sun was shining, and Kate needed these for both protective and style reasons.
Blackout
These days, Kate will often sport lenses that are reflective or a little bit transparent, but these sunglasses are just complete blackout shades. She could be asleep under there, and no one would know. Kate wore them to a polo match in 2009, so, who knows? Maybe she was snoozing. We're also big fans of Pippa's sunglasses, too.
These Middleton ladies know their style.
Ombré
Here's a great example of how the duchess tends to vary the color of her lenses so they're not completely dark. These ombré lenses are golden in tone, drawing out the highlights in her silky hair and pairing nicely with her orange dress. The frames on these Ray-Bans are black, but the light lenses help balance the dark rims. Maybe she didn't put that much thought into it, but it worked out either way.
Bugging Out
For once, these sunglasses are actually not Ray-Bans, they're by the brand Bulgari and run closer to $300. We love when the duchess switches things up, even when it's as small of a change as her sunglasses brand. These have a kind of bug-eye shape to them and pretty gold hardware. She may have been watching tennis, but to borrow a baseball term, she hit this one out of the park.
Butterfly Wings
Kate's worn cat-eye glasses, bug-eye glasses, and these sunnies look sort of like butterfly wings. She wore these to a tennis match in 2014, so it doesn't seem like she had jumped on the Ray-Ban bandwagon yet. These don't appear to be by that designer, but they're still super cute — even if they are a bit larger than the glasses she wears these days.
Pretty Pattern
Typically, the sunglasses the Duchess of Cambridge wears now have the same frame and arm color, but she mixed things up for a polo match in 2006. The lenses are brown, but the arms are multi-colored with swirls of brown, and an almost minty-looking green with gold hardware. Also notable about this picture is that Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, is hanging out with Kate. Oh how times have changed on all fronts — fashion and relationship-wise.
Mirror, Mirror
These brown Ray-Ban shades have mirrored lenses to reflect the world back onto itself. The paparazzi had to have loved that. It's kind of like getting a selfie with Kate if the photo shows a cameraman in her glasses' reflection. She sported these cute sunnies on a visit to the Island of St. Martin, where sunny weather called for stylish shades.
