How much does it cost to clothe royalty? Well, that depends on the day.
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The Duchess of Cambridge's wardrobe in New Zealand on day four added up to an estimated (and eye-watering) $11,800 as she swapped from an Alexander McQueen dress to a Jenny Packham one for two official engagements.
The next day, a casual cruise on Auckland harbour carried a combined price tag of $783, with a pair of $165 Ray-Ban sunglasses the second most expensive item in her ensemble.
In Australia, a Saturday spent visiting the Royal Easter Show was topped off by an attempt to jog on Manly Beach in $420 Stuart Weitzman wedges which, paired with a $495 Zimmermann dress, kept the day's outlay to less than $1000.
The Easter Sunday that followed resurrected some of Kate's oldest looks: a bespoke McQueen for a church service, an unnamed primrose yellow frock in which to take Prince George to Taronga Zoo, then a Stella McCartney dress for her arrival in Canberra.
While the day's price tag was estimated to exceed $7500, the latter two dresses had been seen before: in the Solomon Islands and at the London Olympics.
All up, the royal tour featured two countries, 20 days and a wardrobe for Kate estimated to have cost more than $53,000. Nevertheless, Prince William and Kate's first official tour of New Zealand and Australia has been deemed a rousing sartorial success due to Kate's keen eye for recycled style.
It was reported in 2012 that, after marrying William, Kate spent about $65,000 on couture to wear to official engagements as the new Duchess of Cambridge.
Prince Charles' household budget covered the cost after agreeing to foot the bill for her "work-related" expenses. Since the birth of George and both her and William's increasingly public life, that figure is expected to rise.
Throughout the trip, Kate had 24 official wardrobe changes, wore nine pairs of shoes, carried five clutch purses and wore three Australian labels: Zimmermann, Oroton and Jonathan Howard.
After crunching the numbers to determine how much Kate's working wardrobe would have cost the House of Windsor each day she was on tour, it was evident her hemlines appeared to be getting a little longer, her taste in labels was getting a little more luxurious and her universal appeal was on the rise.
