Kate Middleton’s Blonde Hair: Why Brown Hair Changed

Kate Middleton is soaking up the sun.

That’s why the Princess of Wales said her signature brunette hair has been looking somewhat blonde in recent months.

“It used to be brown,” she told actress Su Pollard backstage at the Royal Variety Performance in London Nov. 19, per the Daily Mail, “but it’s gone light in the sunshine.”

Indeed, Kate’s chestnut-colored locks were a few shades lighter than usual when she and husband Prince William—with whom she shares kids Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7—stepped out at the star-studded show.

There, the 43-year-old wore an emerald velvet dress by Talbot Runhof, while William, also 43, donned a black velvet tuxedo. The outing marked the royal couple’s first joint red carpet appearance in two years, as they had skipped the 2024 event amid Kate’s recovery from chemotherapy treatments following her cancer diagnosis.

“The cancer journey is complex, scary and unpredictable for everyone, especially those closest to you,” Kate shared in September 2024. “With humility, it also brings you face to face with your own vulnerabilities in a way you have never considered before, and with that, a new perspective on everything.”