While being a royal comes with many perks including helicopter access, tea and scones on demand and a balcony with impressive views of London, not to mention the wonders of never cooking a meal or doing laundry, unbelievably royal life still has many drawbacks. Though there are plenty of prestigious schools, lavish vacation homes and upscale modes of travel, being a full-time royal is still a job with many requirements and rules. For instance, Princess Kate can’t exactly skip this year’s BAFTAs or Royal Variety Performance and instead order takeaway fish and chips in her sweats and watch a Love is Blind marathon with Camilla’s Netflix account (password: queenielovescharles).
Royal duty requires hard work, toil and plenty of trips to Scotland in the rain. And one of the downsides to the necessary 24/7 princess perfection is the heels. Yes, being a castle dwelling Cinderella requires an unfathomable amount of outings in court shoes, polished pumps and skinny stilettos.
So, it’s no great surprise that in order to make their glamorous ensembles more comfortable –Kate and Meghan shortcut the system and pass on squeezing snug shoes for forgiving and oversized footwear.
When the Princess of Wales wants a more pleasant pump experience, she will often go up half a size in her designer heels. She reportedly owns shoes in three different sizes including 38, 38.5 and 39. (7, 7.5 and 8 in US Women’s shoe sizing).
The princess wore a 38.5 in blue suede block heel Jimmy Choo pumps for an outing in a Max Mara coat in February 2015 while expecting Princess Charlotte in the coming spring. The Georgie pumps have a column shaped heel to give the wearer more stability.
The ravishing royal opted for another pair of vertiginous shoes in September 2013 at a Tusk Awards ceremony. The royal wore Jimmy Choo glitter platform sandals in size 38.5.
For another red carpet appearance, the British beauty confused royal watchers with her new shoe size and wore LK Bennett Agata pink bow pumps with a 4 inch heel in an entirely new size and went for a 39 (8 or 8.5 in US shoe sizing).
In order to avoid blisters, have room for special padding (like Kate’s preferred Alice Bow insoles) and reduce the chances of swelling, both princess and duchess are inclined to size up when it comes to their collections of fantasy footwear.
The Duchess of Sussex has long subscribed to the ‘bigger is better’ philosophy where her glass slippers are concerned. The mom of two has worn shoes which are a tad bigger than her real size as to avoid rubbing, squeezing or pinching toes during periods of long standing and walking.
On an outing with the late Queen Elizabeth in June 2018, Duchess Meghan anticipated joining the monarch for a long walkabout and multiple engagements in Chesire in northwest England. To prepare for the county visit, Meghan wore Perfect 100 Pumps in black leather but had plenty of extra room and a large gap in the back of heels.
Rather than risk having painful shoes which are too tight, Meghan often alternates her high heels in different sizes that are larger than her reported shoe size of 7 (US). Meghan often wears size 39 (US Size 8) for royal engagements. She wore her Tamara Mellon heels with a little extra space for a Commonwealth Youth Forum in April 2018 with a striped Altuzzara ‘Audrey’ dress.
Meghan switched things up in the shoe department and opted for size 38 (7.5 US) in October 2018 at a reception in Auckland hosted by Jacinda Ardern. The newlywed wore Deneuve pumps by Aquazzura in one half size larger than her regular size. To keep the towering heels from flying off, double-sided tape, cotton stuffing or silicone pads can be utilized to prevent slipping.
