It was a day of sorrow, remembrance, and quiet resilience as the Prince and Princess of Wales returned to Southport on September 23. Their visit came more than a year after the community was shaken by the July 2024 attack at a Taylor Swift–themed dance class, where three young girls — Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King, and Elsie Dot Stancombe — tragically lost their lives.

William and Kate began their day at Farnborough Road Infant and Junior School, where Elsie had once been a pupil. The couple met with teachers and staff to hear about the ways the tragedy had affected students, and how the wider community had come together to support the children in the months since. Later, at Churchtown Primary School, they viewed artwork from Alice’s class and visited a new playground created in memory of Alice and Bebe.

The atmosphere throughout the day was solemn, but Kate’s outfit carried layers of quiet symbolism. She wore a pale pink Burberry tie-neck blouse, last seen during a 2022 visit to Boston, paired with gray trousers and a long steel-gray coat. The soft shade of the blouse against the darker separates created a look that felt both subdued and hopeful, an impression of light breaking through the shadows — a sentiment the couple carried with them in their interactions with pupils and staff.

What caught royal watchers’ attention most was the coat itself. Fans quickly recognized it as the Maxi City Coat by Jigsaw, the British label where Kate once worked after graduating from St Andrews. Though the coat remains available online in other shades for $460, the gray color worn by the princess is no longer produced. The choice was more than a fashion statement — it was a personal nod to her own life before royal duties.

Kate joined Jigsaw in 2006 as an accessories buyer, a role she specifically requested be part-time so she could balance work with the demands of her relationship with Prince William. According to royal expert Rebecca English, Kate openly acknowledged at the time that her schedule had to adapt around the pressures of dating a future king. Former Jigsaw owner Belle Robinson later recalled being struck by Kate’s maturity in dealing with constant photographers outside the office, noting that she remained polite and composed even under scrutiny.

Kate’s time at Jigsaw was brief — she left in 2007 to focus on her personal life and later worked for her family’s business, Party Pieces — but the memory of those early years continues to follow her. Her decision to wear a piece from that period on such a poignant day in Southport layered personal history onto public duty, blending private sentiment with her role as Princess of Wales.

For many observers, the coat was more than a style choice. It was a reminder that Kate, once a young woman carving out her path under relentless media attention, has carried that resilience into her life as a future queen. Fans online echoed that admiration, calling her look “stunning,” “classy,” and “gorgeous.”

In Southport, where sorrow still lingers, the royal couple’s visit struck a balance between grief and remembrance, duty and empathy. And for Kate, the return of a coat from her Jigsaw days quietly tied her past to the present — a gesture as personal as it was symbolic.