‘George would love it!’: The Duchess of Cambridge opens new dragon-and-castle themed play area in Hampton Court
Kate was wearing a dress and coat she's worn at events previously in 2011, 2012 and 2014
THE Duchess of Cambridge told schoolkids that Prince George "would love" the giant sleeping dragon although he'd "probably also be scared of it" as she officially opened a new playground at Hampton Court today.
Kate was taken on a tour around the Magic Garden at the palace in south west London when she also revealed she was desperate to "take off her shoes and run around".
Set within King Henry VIII's former Tiltyard, the play area has battlements, towers, a secret grotto, hide holes and a 25ft (7.6m) long sleeping and breathing dragon.
Kate told a group of very excited children from St John the Baptist School in Hampton Wick, who were invited to the official opening, that she thought young Prince George would love the dragon.
Year four pupil Olivia, eight, added: "She also said he might be a bit scared of it."
While Presley, nine, said Kate, who climbed up some steps to the entrance of the dragon's nest, was "posh", "pretty" and had "great manners".
The Magic Garden has been six years in the making, and is the latest addition to the 500-year-old palace.
More than 17,000 bulbs, 3,000 shrubs and hundreds of trees have been planted in the garden to create the new magical landscape.
The Duchess was escorted around by the garden's designer Robert Myers, chairman of Historic Royal Palaces Rupert Gavin and chief executive Michael Day.
And while talking to the some of the gardening team she declared her barefoot ambitions.
Despite the warmer weather this week, Kate wore a thick blue coat designed by Michael Kors - one she's worn on two separate occasions before - teamed with nude shoes and a matching clutch, both from L.K. Bennett.
She last wore the coat at an Anzac Day remembrance service on April 25, 2014, at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
Then, she paired it with a fascinator and black box clutch bag with a bright red poppy badge.
And today she also wore a grey/blue silk dress with an asymmetric neckline which is gathered at the waist that she has worn before - on her and Wills' royal tour in Los Angeles in 2011 and at a reception in London back in 2012.
This isn’t the first time the Duchess has been known to recycle her fashion - she is known to wear an outfit more than once and on occasions has even swapped clothes with her mum Carole.
Tiltyard team member Barbara Smith talked with the Duchess about the garden's daffodils, then specifically about her own in Norfolk.
She added: "Then I asked her if she had any time to have some fun (during the Magic Garden visit).
"She told me she was desperate to take her shoes off and run around."
RHS award-winning landscape gardener Mr Myers said the Duchess was "very enthusiastic" about the new garden.
He said they talked about the design process and the inspiration for it - as well as the way it draws on the stories, myths and legends of Hampton Court.
"I think she was really taken by the way that this is a garden where children are really encouraged to touch, feel and roll," he said.
"In contrast to the palace, which is very hands-off, don't touch, the garden is somewhere children and adults can let off steam."
The Duchess then moved on to attend a short reception to unveil a plaque celebrating the official occasion.