It’s CAPE-appropriate Kate! The royals know there’s no quicker route to elegance – plus a touch of drama – than a simple wrap-around coat, says ALICE HARE

The cape has long been a royal favorite – and not just in the fantasy land of Snow White and Cinderella.

The word brings to mind Tudor England, kings and queens storming through the court (enraged, of course), with velvet cape tails trailing dramatically behind them.

Yet the cape is very much here and now. And Tuesday is the Princess of Wales demonstrated the royals’ continued taste for style, stepping out in a red Catherine Walker cape over a matching dress.

Strangely for an item so regal, the cape – a stylized version of the cloak – has utilitarian roots.

Queen Elizabeth wears a pink cape and matching suit at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 1979

Diana, Princess of Wales, wearing a velvet cape and an emerald green taffeta evening dress, designed by Graham Wren in 1981

Beatrice Borromeo, married to a grandson of Princess Grace of Monaco, arrives at a Dior event in Venice in 2022 wearing a floor-length velvet cape

Several European armies included capes as part of their uniforms well into the 20th century.

But in the 1950s, fashion took over the cape as its own – to the benefit of women everywhere.

Short capes that ended at the waist became ubiquitous.

Less bulky than a jacket, they showed off the nipped-in waist of the full-skirted Norman Hartnell dresses of the period.

After a hiatus from the cape in the second half of the twentieth century, Christopher Bailey sent model-of-the-moment Cara Delevingne down his Burberry runway during fall 2014 in a cape embroidered with her initials.

An immediate sell-out and a months-long waiting list were the result. It was official: the cape was back. The then Duchess of Cambridge wore a Burberry coat with a cape detail in February 2019, allowing her to relax in the dramatic look.

The style of the cape lies in its drama: its clean lines, not spoiled by superfluous lines and sleeves, make it inherently dramatic.

The cape is an unapologetic fashion statement.

The elegance created by the seamless shape makes it smart enough to wear over evening wear where a jacket would look too casual.

Princess Diana knew this and wore a black velvet cape over evening dresses several times in the 1980s. It’s the only piece of outerwear that wouldn’t look out of place next to her dazzling tiaras.

Barbours don’t really go with emerald chokers from the royal collection, darling.

Modern royalty knows this too. Beatrice Borromeo, the thirty-eight-year-old Italian, too chic for words, whose husband is the son of Princess Caroline of Monaco, wore a black velvet cape over a dress to a Dior gala in Venice last year.

The coverage provided by the length of the cape perfectly offset the partially transparent dress underneath.

Kate’s cape served the same balancing purpose today. Her dress under the cape ended, unusually for Kate, just above the knee, but the cape’s hemline meant that there was never more than the perfect amount of leg visible as she got out of her car and walked up the stairs.

Combined with the bow detail, strong shoulders and striking red hue, Kate’s cape was an absolute, undeniable fashion knockout. (Watch Queen Mathilde of Belgium during a 2018 visit to Canada for a similarly flawless red cape moment).

Do you want to integrate the power of the cape into your own wardrobe? You don’t have to have a long list of white tie galas and state events to attend.

Other royals have shown that the cape can be adapted to more informal situations. Zara Tindall regularly wears them to the races, while Princess Eugenie wears a green woolen version of Chloe with black boots and tights.

Queen Mathilde of Belgium wears a beautiful red cape and hat in Ottawa, Canada in 2018

Queen Maxima wore this Natan camel cape coat for the New Year’s reception at the Royal Palace in 2023

Princess Eugenie in a Chloe green double-breasted cape for the 2021 Together at Christmas carol service

Zara Tindall wearing a berry colored cape coat at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival

A camel velvet cape for Princess Margaret at the New Sadler’s Wells theater in 1998

Perhaps Zara owes her love for it to her mother, who wore a cream version when she was pregnant with her and a green version when she left the hospital after her birth in 1981 (their voluminous shape is perfect for pregnant and postpartum bodies).

Even the late Queen got in on the action, and not just on her coronation day: she wore a pink cape coat to attend the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May 1979. There, she demonstrated another bonus of the cape, tucking her arms completely into it to protect herself from the cold.

And the rain from the 1976 Montreal Olympics didn’t stand a chance against her raincoat cape.

There are few items that combine such an unapologetic chic factor with such undeniable practicality, which is why royal capes are a story as old as time. A mantra to live by? Where there’s an event, there’s a cape. And there’s no quicker route to instant elegance.