Catherine, Princess of Wales, the wife and mother of the future kings of England and the daughter-in-law of King Charles III, also has something else going for her: her fashion and beauty sense. When Kate Middleton wears a dress in public, it often sells out very shortly after. She’s been photographed a thousand times over, with every inch of her wardrobe and her beauty routine examined and noted for future makeovers by women all around the world.

Advertisement

When she became the mother of three active kids paving their own way, there was no metamorphosis into a harried mom, and she continued to be spotted on picnics in the park and frolicking with her younglings looking picture perfect. So it’s been especially surprising those times when she has appeared in public looking less like a princess and more like a “Don’t try this at home” walking warning.

This is exactly what happened in 2006, before the royal wedding and the royal offspring were a part of her history, but after she had already been clocked as the girlfriend of William, Prince of Wales. The young brunette attended a party where she dressed in rosy hues, but was hardly pretty in pink — especially above the neck. Her hair tried in vain to be stylish and on-trend, but in the end, Middleton and her tresses just couldn’t make it happen.

Advertisement

We’re not saying this hair look is the reason why Catherine, Princess of Wales and William, Prince of Wales took a break in 2007, but we will say this disastrous ‘do hit the spotlight just a few months prior to the split. Since the end of their temporary separation, the two have been living their best royal life together, but before that, Kate Middleton attended a party in West London in June 2006. She was on hand to celebrate the opening of The Shop at Bluebird (which has since closed), and was caught with her bangs down.

Advertisement

Known to the public back then as the girlfriend of William, she put on a dress, grabbed some accessories, and made the not-so-great decision to go with a long-fringe look. Given that the rest of her hair appears to have freshly cut, defined ends, we can’t give her the excuse of missing her regular bang trim — so it looks like she purposely chose to go with the stringy, pirate-eye-patch look. 

Even with extra volume pumped into the crown, with the bangs rising up at the top, the hair still falls well beyond lash-kissing, into eye-covering territory. There does seem to be some attempt to styling them, as the fringe is weirdly parted on one side, but we’re guessing that had more to do with allowing at least some unobstructed vision and less to do with making a tress statement. Luckily, Middleton’s styles has changed through the years, and she’s become a fashionable icon. So we’ll chalk this tress mess up to a style experiment gone wrong. Live and learn, Kate.

Advertisement