Meghan Markle’s Trooping of the Colour Dress Says “Shove it” to Tradition

The Duchess joined her new hubby in a carriage for the Trooping of the Colour, aka the official celebration of the Queen’s birthday. It’s basically just a big military parade and carriage procession through London, but we like to see it as a who’s-wearing-what in the royal family.

Queen Elizabeth, looking very good at 92, sported a teal coat and hat combo with a blingy broach and pearl earrings to keep is classic. Kate Middleton, sat alongside Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, was dressed just as timeless and sophisticated as we would all expect from her. Her mintish-blue dress featured a softly cinched waist and a tiny amount of emphasis on the shoulders, like a modern take on Princess Diana’s famously dramatic shoulders of the 1980s. Kate does not look like she just gave birth a little over a month ago.

But the family’s resident American really took the stage with her crafty style choice. Meghan wore a pale pink dress, custom-made for her by Carolina Herrera, which to an outsider looks perfectly appropriate for a royal procession. With three flat buttons and mid-length, who wouldn’t wear that to her husband’s grandmother’s 92nd birthday? Especially when paired with a color-matched Philip Treacy hat.

But the off-the-shoulder dress is actually quite a shock to royal festivities: Meghan Markle is the first lady in the royal family to sport an exposed shoulder look. Though no one at the Trooping of the Colour seemed offended by Meghan’s fashion choice, we think this shows that the new Duchess is trying to shake the monarchy’s status quo.