Kate Middleton Wears Three Poppy Pins on Remembrance Day for This Sweet Reason

It's a tradition she started years ago.

There's always more than what meets the eye with Kate Middleton's fashion. Whether it's nodding to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana with her jewelry or wearing a country's colors on royal tour, the Princess of Wales never misses an opportunity to honor others. And her outfit for Sunday's Remembrance Day ceremony was no exception. 

While standing on the balcony at the Foreign Office building with Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Middleton wore a black Catherine Walker coat dress with a velvet bow tied around the neck and three red poppy pins affixed to the jacket's lapel. While most royals only wear one pin, the princess's decision to wear three is surprisingly sweet. According to The Daily Mail, each pin represents her great-grandmother's three brothers, all of whom died in World War I. 

It's been a tradition for Kate ever since 2015 and up until 2019, when she decided to wear the Codebreakers brooch in honor of her of grandmother, Valerie Glassbarrow, in its place. The next year, she went back to sporting the set of three poppies and accessorized them with the Royal British Legion crystal flower. 

The red poppy has been used since 1921 to commemorate military members from the U.K. and Commonwealth countries who have died in war, while the flower itself is believed to have come from the poem "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae. 

Beyond the three poppies, Middleton's outfit had even more hidden meanings. For starters, her Catherine Walker coat dress was likely a tribute to Princess Diana, who counted Walker as a personal friend and one her favorite designers. Meanwhile, her Collingwood pearl earrings previously belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth.