Kate Middleton arriving at the National Portrait Gallery

She last wore this Jenny Packham in October, but that time she didn't wear any other notable jewels -- well, other than her ring. This photo cracks me up. She's like, "HEY GUYS! I'M BEJEWELED."

Kate Middleton arriving at the National Portrait Gallery

Here's the back view. This dress is one of those where it looks different in different lights -- for a moment, before we realized it was a replay, I thought it might be green.

The Portrait Gala 2014

The October event had very few pics, so this is in many ways our first really good look at this dress, and I actually like it more now that I can see it in motion. It's very pretty, and obviously EXTREMELY appropriate.

Kate Middleton arriving at the National Portrait Gallery

My one note is that, with such a giant necklace, I think she would have been well-served by putting her hair up. Even a low, loose knot would have been nice. I think the diamonds and the hair fight for attention a little bit. Which says a lot about how good her hair is.

Well Replayed: Kate Middleton

Rumor did have it that Kate was going to be wearing more jewels, and bingo. That necklace is huge. Want the deets on it? It's Elizabeth's, it's called the Nizam of Hyderabad necklace, it came with a matching tiara, and -- this is all per The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor and What Kate Wore, which are great resources for Kate-watchers and lovers of things royal -- it was a wedding gift, made by Cartier, from the Nizam of Hyderabad (Hyderabad has quite an interesting history, a wormhole of which I just fell into, and its Nizam had very glittery taste). I just like the idea of walking into your grandmother-in-law's necklace closet and hearing her say, "how about this old thing from the Nizam of Hyderabad? You can have this, Kate, if you wear slightly longer skirts now and then." And Kate is like, "....fine, we can make that work." [Photos: WENN]