Virginia Chadwyck Healey: Kate Middleton’s new stylist is a former Vogue fashion editor and her 'secret weapon'

She's also a former Vogue editor, which always helps
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Megan C. Hills2 April 2019

If you’ve been following Kate Middleton’s wardrobe over the past few months, you might have noticed that the Duchess of Cambridge’s style is undergoing a subtle evolution. While the Duchess is widely regarded as one of the best dressed women in the British monarchy, her recent fashion choices have features some bold, modern additions.

From her sparkling mint Missoni dress in Dublin through to a blue caped coat that sparked a million Beauxbatons memes, Kate's new secret weapon appears to be a friend of hers from university.

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The Daily Mail reports that Kate has a new sartorial “secret weapon” in the form of Virginia Chadwyck-Healey, a reported close friend who attended the Cambridges’ royal wedding in 2011.

Besides her friendship with Kate, Chadwyck-Healey has worked with British Vogue for twelve years - eventually working her way up to Executive Retail Editor - before leaving to become a stylist, brand consultant and freelance journalist writing for The Telegraph and lifestyle site The Grace Tales.

A source told the Daily Mail, “Ginnie is Catherine’s secret weapon. She has made a big difference to the Duchess’s wardrobe for public engagements and has helped give her a whole new sense of confidence. Catherine has been really impressed and is very grateful for her help.”

Chadwyck-Healey, who goes by Ginnie on Instagram, has reportedly been drafted in as Duchess’ former stylist Natasha Archer is said to be on maternity leave.

As with Meghan Markle and her close friend/reported stylist Jessica Mulroney, Kate Middleton appears to be putting her faith in a good friend. Kate and Chadwyck-Healey reportedly have a long friendship. The pair both studied history of art at St Andrews University, where they also met their husbands Prince William and Oliver Chadwyck-Healey.

Chadwyck-Healey's father is the third Lord Strathalmond and she also has two young daughters, Nancy and Maggie.

In her column for The Grace Tales, Chadwyck-Healey revealed she had left her position at Vogue in order to focus on family and develop a better work/life balance.

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“It’s felt like both a divorce and a rebirth" she wrote of the change, "It has changed how I dress, how I spend, which brands I’m following, how I consume media, and mostly it’s given me the time and energy to be a better mother and wife (I hope).”

She continued, “There is life after Vogue. The heels are lower, the carb count is a little higher, the pace is a little slower, the freebies are a little fewer but I’m learning that [one] life is over and a new one is starting.”

In fact, Chadwyck-Healey is no stranger to dressing for royal events and featured in a number of best dressed round-ups of guests to Kate and William’s 2011 wedding. “To my surprise, I found myself included in the fashion reviews as one of the ‘best dressed wedding guests’” she recently wrote in The Telegraph.

In the piece she also shared her tips on wedding guest dressing, as well as navigating the difficult royal dress code. She revealed, “Royal protocol had to come first, but I wanted to feel like I had an identity amid the sea of celebrities, friends, military personnel, foreign members of state and, of course, the Royal Family.”

The monarchy are expected to uphold a number of unspoken style rules, which include everything from wearing nude tights to steering clear of dark or bold nail polish.

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