• Kate Middleton and Prince William attended the Royal Variety Performance for the first time in two years on Wednesday, November 19.
  • In a brochure, the Royal Variety Charity extended its thanks to the Prince and Princess of Wales.
  • It revealed the couple’s updated Conjugal Coat of Arms.

Kate Middleton and Prince William just made this major change without almost anyone noticing. As the couple returned to the Royal Variety Performance for the first time in two years, they debuted a brand new family symbol.

In a brochure, the Royal Variety Charity extended its thanks to the Prince and Princess of Wales for their attendance at the Wednesday evening performance. Included as part of the message was their updated coat of arms design—the first since 2013.

A page in the brochure from the 2025 Royal Variety Performance.

The Prince and Princess of Wales

Two years after they walked down the aisle in 2011, the couple received their Conjugal Coat of Arms. Following Queen Elizabeth II’s death in 2022, William inherited his father King Charles III’s former title of the Prince of Wales.

The new Conjugal Coat of Arms includes the Prince of Wales’s signature feathers, a symbol affiliated with the title since the 1300s. It also features the appropriate crowns signifying the position, and are noticeably different from the plain gold ones seen on William and Kate’s first Conjugal Coat of Arms. Finally, the updated version is underlined with a ribbon bearing the Prince of Wales’s official motto, “Ich Dien,” or “I serve” in German.

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Conjugal Coat of Arms released in 2013.

Kensington Palace

Kate’s shield includes symbolism relating to her lineage as part of the Middleton family, whose Coat of Arms was presented to her father, Michael Middleton, ahead of Kate’s 2011 wedding. The shield is emblazoned with three sprigs of oak as a reference to the Princess of Wales and her two siblings, Pippa and James, as well as the area they grew up in, which is surrounded by oak trees.

Kate Middleton and Prince William on November 19, 2025.

Getty

For the Royal Variety Performance, Kate paired an emerald velvet off-the-shoulder gown with Cartier’s Greville Chandelier Earrings, which were previously owned by her grandmother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II. Passed down to the late monarch from her mother, they first belonged to Dame Margaret Greville, who bequeathed multiple pieces to the Queen Mother.

Set in platinum and featuring two pear-shaped diamonds totaling 40 carats, they were designed in 1918 as a pair of drop earrings. Twelve more diamonds were added on in 1922, and by 1929, so were another ten.