The Princess of Wales’ go-to fashion designer Tabitha Webb has hit rock bottom after more than a decade in business - in which she has dressed some of the biggest female stars. It has been reported that Tabitha Designs Ltd, founded in 2013, owes debts of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The Princess of Wales, 43, has for many years worn the trademark brightly coloured wares of Tabitha, 50, who favours silk and cashmere fabrics. In 2020 alone, the busy royal mother-of-three opted for her green chevron pansy pussybow blouse, £295, for a royal outing in Birmingham, and appeared on a video call with midwives during lockdown in a £275 blue jumper.
However, according to the Daily Mail, the company - which has dressed everyone from Holly Willoughby and Claudia Winkleman to Davina McCall and Emilia Fox - has gone into voluntary liquidation. The move comes after the business accumulated debts of £700,000, including a £50,000 tax bill still outstanding with HMRC.
'Following a number of business challenges since the pandemic and declining sales as a result, the director of Tabitha Designs Ltd has made the difficult decision to enter liquidation,' a spokesman for the liquidators confirmed to the Daily Mail. 'It is unlikely that liabilities to creditors will be repaid.'
Despite Tabitha's recent hardships, Prince William’s wife has long been a fan of her looks. She wore the designer’s floral dress during a royal visit to the island of Tuvalu during the Diamond Jubilee tour of the South Pacific in 2012, then in 2015 she stepped out in a space-themed number at the London premiere of Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer's Llamas.
In 2024, Tabitha opened up to HELLO! her five-bedroom holiday home in South Africa - where her husband Gavin Ferrar, with whom she shares young daughters Betsey and Primrose, is from. "I’m definitely more relaxed here," she shared.
"I can come and check out of life for a few weeks and forget about the things I might usually worry about, like how many followers I’ve got on Instagram or which celebrity wore my clothes and who wore somebody else’s.”
In the same interview, Tabitha also touched upon her friendship with Kate’s younger sister Pippa Middleton, 42, with whom she collaborated in 2015 to design a dress and scarf to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. "I met Pippa through friends and she’s wonderful, and I think [she and Kate] look great in the clothes," she said.
Before Tabitha Designs Ltd, the designer - whose sister is the financial journalist Merryn Somerset Webb - co-founded the label Project D with singer Dannii Minogue, which was also worn by the princess. After launching in 2010, the star announced she was stepping back from the brand after three years.