Kate’s Bollywood glam! Princess dons conventional flower garland over Ralph Lauren gown as she visits Hindu temple to mark Holi pageant of spring

The Princess of Wales put on a stunning display in an all-white ensemble as she arrived in Leicester to celebrate the Hindu festival Holi on Thursday.

Kate, 44, received a bright welcome to the East Midlands yesterday, with dancing, honking horns, and crowds surging to shake her hands as she marked the Indian festival of colour, love and spring. 

The mother-of-three looked elegant in a comfortable yet polished £399 Jamie dress from Polo Ralph Lauren for the occasion, which is currently on sale online for £199.

She adorned the figure-skimming dress, which was rendered in a soft gradient cream hue, with a yellow silk scarf and a flower garland – a symbol of respect in Indian culture – that she was presented with as she arrived at Shreeji Dham Haveli Hindu Temple.

Kate completed her outfit with a bespoke coat from Chris Kerr, along with £650 suede heels from her favourite Gianvito Rossi and a £395 matching clutch bag from Emmy London.

The royal added a Bollywood-inspired touch to her ensemble with Sézane’s Dina earrings in gold, featuring blue gemstones hanging from the tassels, which are also on sale for £100, down from £200.

During the visit, Kate revealed her fondness for Indian food, declaring that she loves ‘coriander and green chilli’ and is ‘ok with spice’ as she dined on an array of savoury treats.

A group of Bollywood dancers performed a routine for her during which she was handed a rose to hold. She told them that her three children would ‘love’ their dance moves.

The Princess of Wales looked elegant in a Ralph Lauren dress as she visited the Shreeji Dham Haveli Hindu Temple in Leicester yesterday

The princess joined in with traditional dancing and made an offering of milk during her first visit to a Hindu temple.

Kate, who was barefoot for her visit to the temple, was invited to take part in a ladies’ dance during a religious ceremony, and said, ‘Oh, go on then’.

Upon arrival at the Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre, Kate was introduced to Aakash Odedra, who uses the centre to host community dance sessions.

Adorning the princess with a garland of pearls and roses, he later said he had made it specially for her, because there was ‘no better way to welcome a guest than to garnish their soul with flowers’.

Born in Birmingham, Odedra, an award-winning choreographer, Bollywood dancer and founder of the Aakash Odedra Company, was trained in Bharatanatyam and Kathak dance styles and became a student of Shiamak Davar, a renowned Bollywood choreographer in India.

Odedra founded the Aakash Odedra Company in Leicester in 2011 with a mission to create ‘a happier and healthier society through dance and the arts’.

Last year, the dance troupe joined forces with Move Against Cancer to offer Bollywood movement lessons to those recovering from cancer.

The mother-of-three was presented with a traditional flower garland and yellow silk scarf at the temple

The royal, who visited Leicester to mark Holi, was presented with a different flower garland at the Aakash Odedra Company

The princess last year announced that she was in remission from cancer following a diagnosis in early 2024.

Following a course of chemotherapy, Kate has made a gradual return to royal duties.

After watching her first Bollywood performance, the princess was shown into a candle-lit ballroom where Odedra performed his latest work, ‘Songs of the Bulbul’.

This is an interpretation of an ancient Sufi story about a captured songbird, or bulbul, which sings an exquisite tune before perishing from despair.

She appeared mesmerised as red circles of confetti dropped from the ceiling as Odedra performed a solo dance while a live orchestra from Manchester Camerata played music by the composer Rushil Ranjan, an associate artist of the Royal Albert Hall.

At the end, the princess seemed hesitant to clap before anyone else, before someone joked ‘you can clap now’ which made her laugh.

‘That was so moving. Extraordinary,’ she said. Kate told the orchestra: ‘Thank you. That was really fantastic.’

By the time she left the community centre, crowds had gathered outside and as she walked towards them, people surged forwards to greet her with hugs and requests for selfies.

‘Thank you for coming to see me,’ she said.

As she walked round the corner to the Golden Mile, vans honked their horns and drivers waved as they caught sight of the princess on the busy road.

Kate, still wearing the garland, visited Ladlee, a family sari shop, where she admired the embroidery of the fabric and asked whether the skills had been passed down through the family.

Kate said that it was nice to return to the city under ‘happier circumstances’, her last visit taking place with Prince William in 2018 when they paid tribute to the victims of a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of five people including Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the Leicester City football club chairman.

Crowds lined the street as Kate crossed the road to Bobby’s restaurant, a family business named after a famous 1973 Bollywood film of the same name.

It was opened in 1976 by Dharmesh Lakhani’s parents after they moved to the UK from Uganda when he was a child.