Daily Times

The duchess of Cambridge dazzled in a recycled Jenny Packham gown as she and William were guests of honour at a fundraising gala dinner in Norfolk.

Kate wore the same gown she debuted almost exactly five years ago in June 2011 at an ARK gala dinner at Kensington Palace.

Then she was just starting her work with the royal family and it was her first formal engagement since her wedding and she wore her hair loose.

Five years on she is a seasoned royal and mother of two and chose a sophisticated up do with the floor-length gown. The dress is from the designer’s 2011 collection, described as a “pearlescent rose sequin gown with Swarovski crystals”.

On arrival at the dinner, Kate suggested her husband was looking forward to a break from her cooking.

With a special five course meal prepared by five Michelin – starred chefs, the Duke of Cambridge knew his luck was in at the dinner at Houghton Hall, three and a half miles from the couple’s 10-bedroom country mansion at Anmer Hall on the Queen’s Sandringham estate. “William has to put up with my cooking most of the time,” Kate, 34, told the chefs. William quipped, “It’s the reason I’m so skinny.”

The royal couple are supporting East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices in their fundraising dinner at King’s Lynn’s Houghton Hall as it tries to raise £10 million for a new hospice. Kate has been patron of the charity since 2012 and has visited their hospices across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.

So far they have raised £2.5 million towards a new Norfolk hospice called The Nook which will be built on a five-acre woodland site and will offer a hydrotherapy pool, music studio private rooms for counselling.

William and Kate are being hosted by The Marquess and Marchioness of Cholmondeley, and meet some of the appeal’s donors and volunteers at a reception where EACH Ambassador Anthony Horowitz will make a speech.

Kate, William and their children George and Charlotte split their time between their Norfolk home Anmer Hall and their London residence Kensington Palace.