Kate has turned the Breton into her own comfort blanket! LIZ JONES on how despite a new hairstyle and ring on her finger, the Princess of Wales’s favourite striped top shows her steadfast resolve after a tough year

We all need a comfort blanket, don’t we? Something to hold us up, something to hide behind: the one thing that never lets us down.

Prince William, in a video posted to Instagram with Kate on Sunday to celebrate Team GB’s Olympic success, looked older, more confident, relaxed and completely in control as he got into stay-at-home vacation mode. The reason? He was sporting a brand-new beard.

And Catherine? Well, she wore her usual style. Yes, she revealed a slightly new look – her hair parted in caramel streaks, a new ring next to her wedding band. But her top told us all we needed to know. We haven’t lost her. She hasn’t changed. All is right with the world.

The Breton navy and white sailor top is a garment she wears when she wants to feel and look like a woman, not a princess. For when she needs reassurance; and to be reassured. To appear relaxed when her life may be in turmoil, or filled with emotion.

The £139 Ralph Lauren Breton in the video is new, but several in her possession are more than 11 years old. Each has a subtle tweak – a navy scoop neck, a higher neckline, a slim or square cut, in wool, cotton or cashmere.

Kate used the comfy embrace as she braved the cameras to tell us about her cancer diagnosis

But there is one constant: it is what she wears for strength. Some people have therapy dogs. For Kate, the Breton is her emotional support system.

And my goodness, she’s needed that comfortable embrace, that familiar armor, since she first came into the public eye. And never more so than when, after months of speculation, she braved the cameras to tell us about her cancer diagnosis.

Many said William should have been sitting next to her, holding her hand, when she made that announcement. But Kate only needed her Breton top.

On that occasion it was cashmere, £160, and by her friend and favourite designer, Erdem. But it could just as easily have been Boden, so human, so vulnerable, so one of us she seemed. All we had to know was that here was finally something safe and familiar – both the woman and the sweater. Phew.

The choice of the Breton stripe shows that she is loyal, not easily influenced and certainly not vain. When she was chosen as the cover star for the 100th anniversary of British Vogue, Kate opted for a simple Breton top instead of a ball gown on the inside pages. It was a subtle wink to us, the readers: Hey, I’m not a supermodel, are you serious? I’m just like you.

Kate has worn several versions of the top while grocery shopping, sailing, playing with her children and raising money for various charities.

When she revisited the University of St Andrews, where she fell in love with William, it came out again to calm her emotions. And it came up during the pandemic, when she and William spoke over Zoom about lockdown and mental health. The opposite of panic, it simply meant the show would go on.

The Breton simply works – and very hard. Why?

Well, the neckline is flattering, as are the long sleeves, which crucially aren’t too long. The length of the bracelet suggests that someone is doing the dishes, minding their own business.

The stripes are cheerful, never boring. No fiddly buttons or zips. Most importantly, the stripes (traditionally 21 white and 21 blue on the body; 15 and 14 on each sleeve) are more often than not navy blue.

It’s a color that former Vogue editor-in-chief Alexandra Shulman describes as “like one of those people who are born, not middle-aged, not old, but just never young, and who travel through life in their own slipstream. Navy is an assistant, rather than the star.”

The Princess of Wales wore Breton when she delivered a message during lockdown in April 2020

Kate at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2013. In Breton she is approachable but smart

That’s Kate in a nutshell. Never a slavish follower of trends, never a show-off, in a Breton she’s approachable but smart. The Breton is the kind of thing Coco Chanel, Jane Birkin, Audrey Hepburn or Alexa Chung wear: women who are happy in their own skin.

As the most famous woman in the world, Kate knows that what she wears will be endlessly scrutinized for clues, to death. Wearing a Breton is disarming. She says, “This isn’t about what I’m wearing. This is about what I’m here to say.”

The Breton doesn’t just give Kate a reassuring hug, it calms us down. Empathetic as she is, she realizes that we need to see her exactly as her old self. Familiar in a world of chaos. Yes, a little safe and boring – but that’s exactly what we need!

Of course, the choice of an iconic French style could very well have been a nod to the fact that the Games were taking place in Paris. But it was also a big salute to the rest of us, from an old friend who was sorely missed.