All it took for Kate Middleton to snag Prince William was a fierce runway walk. On episode 9 of The Crown season six, “Hope Street,” the future Princess of Wales proved that she didn’t need any help from her mother Carole Middleton to get the attention of the future King of England—what she really needed was a little glitz and glam. Vanity Fair’s Julie Miller returns to Still Watching to spill the deets on the infamous St. Andrews event where Middleton officially charmed her way into William’s heart.
Still Watching co-hosts Hillary Busis, Richard Lawson, and Chris Murphy were, of course, fascinated by the display, which Murphy dubs “the most high-stakes fashion show of all time.” “The future of the empire depended on this fashion show,” Busis says. Lawson, though, was baffled by The Crown‘s decision to transition from Kate’s runway walk directly into the Queen mother’s death.
“What did you think of the juxtaposition of a sexy fashion show, smash cut, Queen Mother dying in a little bed?” he asks. “I just thought that was such a weird way to offset the action of this episode.” While the two events may have felt tonally at odds, Busis notes that in reality, they actually occurred quite close to each other: the fashion show was held March 26th, 2002, and the Queen mother died on March 30th of that year. “Kate did not kill her by wearing that dress,” says Busis. “But she didn’t not.”
While the episode does bid farewell to the Queen mother, it also marks the return of Salim Daw‘s Mohammed al-Fayed, intent on spreading his conspiracy theory that the royal family was involved in the death of his son Dodi and Relationship“>Princess Diana—going so far as to request that Diana’s body be exhumed. “I was not expecting to see him again. I thought that that narrative had closed,” says Lawson. But in real life, “Mohammed did not go off quietly into his grief. He really was very vocal about his distrust and dislike for the royal family, which has a sort of tragic lilt to it because he used to be so devoted to the idea of getting in there.” While al-Fayed’s theory was proven incorrect via an independent investigation, the hosts were somewhat chuffed the depiction of al-Fayed in the episode as a madman. “There is no conspiracy—Princess Diana died in a tragic accident,” says Busis. “But did The Crown really need to hammer on that so much, and make him seem so crazy?”
Mohammed al-Fayed and the queen Mother’s cameos notwithstanding, the main event of the episode is William and Kate’s budding romance. “It’s fascinating because you start to read about this 2002 charity fashion show that happened at St. Andrews, and there’s mysteriously very little known about what happened behind the scenes,” reveals Miller. According to her, the see-through dress that Kate Middleton wore was eventually auctioned off for charity, but even its designer had no idea how the Middleton came to wear it. “It was designed from a sheer piece of fabric that cost just £40 and was supposed to be a skirt.” It reportedly sold at the auction for £75,000, or $125,000 USD.
“It was probably the best purchase I’ve ever made. I’ll be honest,” jokes Lawson.