Catherine, Princess of Wales Debuts New Earrings at Balmoral Church Service
Catherine, Princess of Wales appeared at Crathie Kirk, the church near Balmoral Castle in Scotland, wearing a pair of chandelier earrings not previously seen in public. The service took place in August 2026, during the royal family's traditional summer stay at Balmoral, the Scottish estate that has served as the monarchy's summer retreat since the reign of Queen Victoria.
Town & Country, reporting on August 24, 2026, identified the earrings as a design from Lauren Ralph Lauren, set in gold-tone mixed metal and measuring about two and a half inches long. The magazine noted that the earrings are from a past season and no longer available for purchase online.
The princess paired the earrings with a high-neck lace blouse from Holland Cooper, a British luxury label, and a wool jacket. Her headpiece was a Lock & Co. Hatters design called the "Betty Boop" hat — a style she first wore in 2012. Lock & Co., founded in 1676, is one of London's oldest hatmakers and a frequent choice for royal occasions. Catherine had not worn the Betty Boop hat in public since Easter Sunday services at Windsor in 2018, an eight-year gap.
Earlier reporting from September 2024 had linked a different pair of chandelier earrings to a Crathie Kirk appearance. Hello Magazine described those earrings as the "Temple of Heaven" design by the London-based jewelry designer Cassandra, calling the style one of Cassandra's most enduring designs. The Daily Mail separately reported that the earrings worn to a Balmoral church service came from a "Journey to China" collection released over a decade ago and were valued at approximately £1,800 (about $2,300). The most recent Town & Country report, dated August 2026, identifies the earrings as the Lauren Ralph Lauren pair.
What stands out is the mix. A wool jacket from Holland Cooper, a hat from a centuries-old London hatter first worn fourteen years ago, and earrings from an American mass-market label that no longer sells them. The princess has long moved across price points in the same outfit — the Daily Mail calculated that her 2019 wardrobe spending totaled £103,075 (roughly $130,000), a figure that included a pair of beaded chandelier earrings costing £7 (about $9). At the other end of the scale, she has worn the Greville chandelier earrings, a piece with serious provenance: those were a wedding gift to the late Queen Elizabeth II from her parents, and the princess wore them to a wedding reception for the first time in 2023, per the Daily Mail.
Madame Tussauds in London refreshed its wax figure of the princess in May 2025, updating the likeness "from tiara to toe" to mark the Prince and Princess of Wales's fourteenth wedding anniversary. The figure's wardrobe changes have historically tracked Catherine's most discussed public outfits, a sign of how closely her clothing choices are followed.
The Balmoral church appearance is part of a familiar pattern. Each August, the royal family gathers at the castle in Aberdeenshire, and Sunday services at Crathie Kirk — a small parish church the family has attended since the 19th century — offer one of the few regular chances to see them during a season otherwise spent privately. What the princess wears on those walks from the car to the church door tends to be catalogued within hours.
