The Duchess of Cambridge made a welcome return to the public stage todaywhen she and Prince William made a visit to the Royal Marsden hospital where they opened a new children’s cancer unit.

Kate was wearing a designer who seems to have become a royal favourite, Amanda Wakeley, and looked as elegant as ever in an oatmeal long-sleeved shift dress, described as ‘sculpted felt’. She wore this with her favourite LK Bennett nude court shoes and with her hair soft and flowing.

I know the fashionista press may again have problems with this look, but Kate was spending time with parents and children who were going to be using this unit, so flamboyance and bright, block, colours just weren’t appropriate for the order of the day. The understated colour, simple design and elegant feel of this dress helped to  make this perfect, a well thought out outfit that reminded me of the sorts of things worn by the super stylish Carla Bruni.

Amanda Wakeley sculpted felt long sleeve seamed dress

Kate’s dress is still available to buy from amandawakeley.com for £450. If this stretches the budget too much, you could take a look at the Reiss Lola, which is the updated version of the Shola, the dress Kate wore when she met the Obamas. Or maybe just invest in one of the raft of Kate dresses that are available on the High Street and online this season. Here are just a few of them, but you can find more at dorothyperkins.com, Hobbs and next.co.uk.

Reiss lola dress £175

Kate style dress

You can see the Kate influence on this Coast Nolita shift dress

Loving this plus sized Evans Black Tummy Control Dress