Princess Kate's transformation into a "glamorous stunning lady" went viral on TikTok as fans compared her looks before her marriage to more recent outfits.
The future queen and Prince William met as students at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and Kate was 29 by the time they married at Westminster Abbey in London in April 2011. That meant the couple were dating on and off for around a decade before William brought Kate officially into the monarchy, securing her future as a working royal.
Fans shared photos of Kate from before her wedding day and compared them to pictures of her since.
Clips of the princess were liked more than 21,000 times and viewed almost 550,000 times after being posted on TikTok, where one user wrote: "She is born to be a queen."
Another replied: "Beautiful young girl before her wedding, glamorous stunning lady after her wedding. If ever a woman was destined to be a queen, it's Catherine. She is loved the world over."
One comment read, "she certainly grew into her role," and another added: "She so classy. long live Princess of Wales Catherine."
The first part of the clip contained a series of pictures of Kate from before her marriage to William, including one on the catwalk during a student fashion show at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland, on March 26, 2002.
Prince William was in the audience at the time, and it was said to be a key moment in the couple falling in love, though the TikTok creator chose the less daring of Kate's outfits, a black dress.
Another turn on the catwalk that day saw her wear a daring see-through dress that became a famous part of the mythology around the start of their relationship.
Also featured among Kate's pre-wedding looks was a bright green-and-yellow outfit she wore to the Day-Glo Midnight Roller Disco, at The Renaissance Rooms, in London, on September 17, 2008. The 80s-themed event was organized to raise money for charity, though that did not stop Kate catching the wrong end of the headlines the following day after she lost her balance and fell.
A somewhat-ungenerous write-up in the U.K. newspaper Daily Mail noted she "certainly put a lot of effort" in, while describing the outfits as garish and adding: "The less than demure yellow hot pants she was wearing also did little to conceal her dignity."
The second half of the video shows Kate's post-wedding looks from the time when she has been a working royal, including a floor-length yellow dress she wore during a 2022 visit to Jamaica.
Also included was her outfit for King Charles III's London coronation, which featured a silver and crystal headpiece designed by Jess Collett and Alexander McQueen.
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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