Kate Middleton Followed in Diana's Footsteps For Her Current Hair Transformation

Like the rest of the world, we were excited to watch Princess Charlotte arrive at her first day of school. But being beauty editors, we were also excited to see Kate Middleton with what appears to be a new lighter hair color. Although it's not a dramatic change, we have a feeling Kate has been slowly transitioning to the more golden hue all Summer long — a tactic that may be inspired by Princess Diana's similar approach to hair transformations.

It's no secret that Princess Diana wasn't a fan of dramatic hair changes. Anytime she went in for a cut "we had to do it one-fourth of an inch at a time over several weeks," hairstylist Richard Dalton once revealed; the reason being that the minor tweaks wouldn't receive too much attention from the press and thus take the attention away from all her good works.

Fast-forward three decades and we think that Kate has been doing the exact same thing. At the beginning of the Summer — around the month of May — Kate stepped out for a royal appearance with her shoulder-length hair looking as it always does: long, bouncy, and a gorgeous shade of chestnut brown. By June, we began to notice her hair looking a tiny bit different. At a gala dinner in London, she stepped out with the lengths slightly shorter, the ends slightly pointier, and her color the tiniest bit blonder. Our suspicions continued after the spotting the duchess at both Wimbledon and the King's Cup, her hair looking more and more golden each time she made an appearance. At Charlotte's first day of school, however, we're now convinced Kate has changed up both her color and her cut, with shorter, face-framing layers and distinct blond highlights threaded throughout.

Lighter might not be the obvious choice for Kate's Fall hair change, but she's right on trend with all the wheat blonde hues we've been seeing lately. The duchess's hair might not be as bright or as blond as many of the wheat-inspired shades we've seen, but it still has the warmth and golden tone that characterizes the trend.

An obvious reason for Kate doing this is — similarly to Diana — the attention isn't focused on her looks and taking away from the work she's doing, and the time spent with her kids. Summer was also a perfect time for Kate to make small changes, because aside from a few engagements such as Wimbledon, the royals are off-duty for the majority of the holidays.

Read on to see Kate's gradual Summer hair transformation for yourself.