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Royals raiding their mums' wardrobes: Princess Kate & Carole Middleton, Crown Princess Mary & Princess Isabella, more

Duchess Sophie and Lady Louise Windsor also often share clothes

Kate Middleton and Carole Middleton and Crown Princess Victoria and Queen Silvia wearing matching dresses
Nichola Murphy
Deputy Lifestyle Editor
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Royals don't just recycle outfits from their own wardrobe, but many have also turned to their fashionable family members for style inspiration.

Lady Louise Windsor often gets thrifty by restyling dresses owned by her mother Duchess Sophie, while Princess Beatrice and Sarah Ferguson have also proven their shared fashion sense in the past. See some of the most memorable times royals raided their mother's wardrobe, proving some outfits really are timeless…

Crown Princess Mary and Princess Isabella

Princess Isabella and Crown Princess Mary wearing the same white suit© Getty

Princess Isabella turned to her mother to find the perfect outfit for her confirmation in April 2022. She settled on a white Max Mara three-piece suit with a belted waist which Mary had previously worn on several outings, including during a visit to Stockholm in May 2017 and for a visit to South Korea in May 2019.

Duchess Sophie and Lady Louise Windsor

Lady Louise Windsor and Duchess Sophie wearing the same black and white dress© Getty

There have been several occasions when Lady Louise Windsor has taken style inspiration from her fashionable mother the Duchess of Edinburgh. One memorable event was at the wedding of her cousin, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, in 2018, where Louise opted for a grey and white skater dress layered underneath a white cardigan. 

She had clearly admired the frock when Sophie wore it to Wimbledon in 2017!

Princess Beatrice and Sarah Ferguson

Princess Beatrice and Sarah Ferguson in the same blue and black dress© Getty

Princess Beatrice and her mother Sarah, Duchess of York not only chose the same dress but wore it just months apart! Rewind to 2017 when Beatrice rocked a geometric blue frock in June, while Sarah was pictured in the same one the following month.

Princess Kate and Carole Middleton

Princes Kate wearing the same blue dress as her mother Carole Middleton© Getty

Princess Kate wore an elegant royal blue tux-style dress to open Ipswich's Treehouse Children's Hospice in 2012. Her mother Carole stepped out in what appears to be the same dress at Royal Ascot in 2010. Now we know where Kate gets her great eye for fashion from!

Princess of Wales and Carole Middleton

Princess Kate and Carole Middleton in the same pink dress© Getty

The mother-daughter duo proved their similar fashion sense once again in 2022 when Carole stepped out at Ascot wearing a stunning pink dress from Me+Em. Features of the midi shirt dress include a two-tone colourway, a button-down front, and a tied waist. Carole accessorised with a black clutch bag and a black hat.

Meanwhile, her daughter had previously worn the frock during her royal tour of Scotland with Prince William in 2021, after promising five-year-old cancer patient Mila Sneddon that she would wear something pink. Kate simply added nude heels and a floral face mask and pulled her curled brunette hair into a ponytail.

Crown Princess Victoria and Queen Silvia

Crown Princess Victoria and Queen Silvia in the same silver and pink ballgown© Getty

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wore this breathtaking vintage Nina Ricci ballgown to the 2018 Nobel Prize Banquet in Stockholm, but it wasn't the first time that royal fans saw the dress.

Back in 1995, her mother, Queen Silvia, wore the same dress to the ceremony. Both mother and daughter accessorised with a sparkling tiara and chic up-do.

Princess Victoria and Queen Silvia

Crown Princess Victoria recycles Queen Silvia's sunny yellow outfit© Getty

Another family ensemble for the Swedish royal! Victoria wore this yellow outfit at a seminar in Stockholm in 2017, 39 years after her mother Silvia donned the ensemble for a visit to Moscow in 1978. It looked fabulous on both occasions!

Princess Estelle of Sweden and Crown Princess Victoria

Princess Estelle of Sweden wearing Crown Princess Victoria's childhood dress© Getty

Young Princess Estelle wore this pretty white dress with gold embellishment to the christening of her sister, Princess Leonore, in Stockholm in 2014. Way back in 1980, her mother Crown Princess Victoria dressed in the same outfit for the 34th birthday of her father, King Carl Gustaf XVI.

Mabel Friso and Princess Beatrix

Mabel Friso in Princess Beatrix's green dress© Getty

The wife of Prince Johan Friso, the younger brother of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, looked so elegant in this green and blue floral dress in 2005. 

Mabel must have borrowed the outfit from her mother-in-law, Princess Beatrix, who wore the dress for her engagement announcement to Claus van Amsberg in 1965. 

Beatrice Borromeo and Princess Caroline

Beatrice Borromeo wearing Princess Caroline's silver dress© Getty

Monaco's Beatrice Borromeo looked amazing in this floor-length silver gown at a dinner in Monte Carlo in 2017. Ten years earlier, her mother Princess Caroline rocked the exact same dress at the Monte Carlo Red Cross Ball. The gown is stunning on both ladies!

Queen Letizia and Queen Sofia

Queen Letizia and Queen Sofia wearing the same floral dress

Perhaps one of the most impressive times a royal has recycled a family member's wardrobe was when Queen Letizia re-wore her mother-in-law's gown four decades later!

The Spanish royal looked beautiful in a pink and white floral-embroidered dress at the Royal Palace in Madrid in 2021, exactly 40 years after Queen Sofia wore it for an official trip to Rome in 1981! While Letizia modernised it with a silver belt, Sofia kept it classic by accessorising it with a pearl necklace.

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