Cut-price Kate strikes again! Duchess debuts a half-price Roksanda dress for the Queen's tea party - days after showcasing another designer bargain 

  • Kate wore a Roksanda dress for the Queen's birthday picnic today 
  • The pink and blue colour block gown is on sale for £490, down from £980
  • On Thursday she wore a Roland Mouret dress which is currently on sale
  • The Duchess is known for her love of a bargain and 'recycling' her outfits 
  • See all the latest Kate Middleton news at www.dailymail.co.uk/kate 

She's known for her love of a bargain and can pull off a £40 Topshop shift dress with as much panache as a £3,500 Jenny Packham gown.

But the Duchess of Cambridge may have outdone herself this week, picking up not one but two half-price items for some of the most high-profile events in the royal calendar.

In what has been one of the busiest weeks for the royals - comprising not only the Queen's but Prince Philip's birthday and a string of charity engagements, Kate has chosen off-the-rail pieces while other royals opted for custom-made couture.

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A royally good bargain! Kate wore a Roland Mouret gown on Thursday night
Kate's Roksanda dress for today's birthday tea party is currently half price at £490

A royally good bargain! Kate wore a Roland Mouret gown on Thursday night (left) which was down from £2,095 to £1,255, while her Roksanda dress for today's birthday tea party is currently half price at £490 (right)

On Thursday night, she hosted a glittering banquet for SportsAid at Kensington Palace in a floor-sweeping blue gown from Roland Mouret which has been slashed from £2,095 to £1,255.

And yesterday she stepped out in a colour-block dress from Roksanda which is now half-price at £480 for the Patron's Lunch, an open-air party being staged in The Mall for 10,000 people in honour of the Queen.

It is not the first time Kate, 35, has been noted for her love of a bargain. Last month, ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly praised Kate for snapping up high street labels such as Topshop, Zara and Whistles, despite having a princely shopping budget to play with.

She touched on the difficulties Kate faces due to her high profile, adding: 'The poor kid can't win.'

'It's difficult for her because if she wears high street, all the stuck-up courtiers will say, "Look at that, she's not being dignified enough" and then if she wears designer clothes, "Look at that, spending a fortune on clothes".' 

'The poor kid can't win': ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly praised Kate for snapping up high street labels such as Topshop, Zara and Whistles, despite having a princely shopping budget to play with

'The poor kid can't win': ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly praised Kate for snapping up high street labels such as Topshop, Zara and Whistles, despite having a princely shopping budget to play with

Kate's colour block dress from Roksanda. Today's event will bring to a close the events marking the Queen's 90th birthday including a service at St Paul's cathedral and a traditional Trooping the Colour ceremony

Kate's colour block dress from Roksanda. Today's event will bring to a close the events marking the Queen's 90th birthday including a service at St Paul's cathedral and a traditional Trooping the Colour ceremony

Last month, Kate attended a charity initiative at London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park dressed in a £105 geometric print skirt by Banana Republic; the same week, the mother-of-two stepped out in Windsor wearing a bright red blazer from Zara costing just £49.99.

Lorraine noted that Kate looks 'much more comfortable in high street' than when she wears designer labels.

Looking back to the Duchess' recent trip to India and Bhutan, she said: 'Kate often tours wearing all this thousand-pound this, thousand-pound that stuff - and then she wore a wee dress from Topshop for £75 and looked phenomenal.

'She looked really good. When someone like that wears high street, it's great.' 

Yesterday's event brought to a close the weekend's events marking the Queen's 90th birthday including a thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral and a traditional Trooping the Colour ceremony.

Looking back to the Duchess' recent trip to India, Lorraine said: 'Kate often tours wearing all this thousand-pound this, thousand-pound that stuff - and then she wore a wee dress from Topshop for £75' (pictured)

Looking back to the Duchess' recent trip to India, Lorraine said: 'Kate often tours wearing all this thousand-pound this, thousand-pound that stuff - and then she wore a wee dress from Topshop for £75' (pictured)

The Duchess does Topshop: In 2013, Kate wore a £38 Topshop dress on a visit to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford. Last month, she wore a bright red blazer from Zara costing just £49.99 to an event in Windsor

The Duchess does Topshop: In 2013, Kate wore a £38 Topshop dress on a visit to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford. Last month, she wore a bright red blazer from Zara costing just £49.99 to an event in Windsor

WHAT THE STYLIST SAYS 

Helen Canning, stylist and founder of CocoMamaStyle.com, told FEMAIL: 'Kate is in a position to wear thousands of pounds' worth of new clothes every day and yet she has also worn a couple of pieces more than once.

'This may not seem like a big deal but it does show that Kate’s not pushing the limits too far with excessive outfit changes for fashion’s sake.'

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Persistent showers fell for much of the day and threatened to turn the occasion into a sodden washout.

But the guests - many from the charities the Queen supports as patron - remained upbeat and pulled on ponchos provided in their picnic hampers filled with Pimms, pork pies and cupcakes.

The Queen was spotted making a brief appearance at Buckingham Palace's balcony window to see how proceedings were processing before attending the event later in the day.

The Queen was joined by the Duke of Edinburgh, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

Peter Phillips, the Queen's grandson, masterminded the open-air Patron's Lunch to mark the monarch's patronage of more than 600 charities and organisations. 

Tickets for the event were priced at £150 with the majority going to organisations or charities that have the Queen as patron and 2,500 sold to the general public.  

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