Kate Middleton and Prince William grin and share a joke at Royal Variety Performance

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge dusted off their finery to raise the glamour stakes at tonight’s Royal Variety Performance as they arrived at the London Palladium. 

The spectacular show takes place every year, either in London or in a theatre around the United Kingdom, and it’s the third time Kate Middleton and Prince William, both 37, have attended, following their 2014 and 2017 appearances.

Kate looked stunning in a custom floor-length black lace overlay Alexander McQueen gown teamed with towering black stiletto heels and wore her glossy chestnut locks in loose curls. The dress had a daring scooped back and a sweetheart neckline, and cinched in at the waist before flaring out at the knee. 

The mother-of-three sported a bolder make-up look than usual, opting for smoky eye-shadow which she set off with a nude lipstick. She donned a dramatic pair of gold hoop earrings featuring a pearl drop design, wearing no other jewellery than her engagement and wedding rings, and carried a simple black clutch bag.

Meanwhile William continued his recent stylish form with a traditional black tuxedo and placed an affectionate hand on his wife’s back as the couple entered the theatre.

The royal couple greeted a number of performers as well as executives from the Royal Variety Charity and ITV, both before and after the show. 

The event is in aid of the Royal Variety Charity, formally known as The Entertainment Artistes’ Benevolent Fund, of which The Queen is Patron.   

The money raised from the show helps hundreds of entertainers throughout the UK, who need help and assistance as a result of old age, ill-health, or hard times. 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge got to meet some of the cast of the new well-received Mary Poppins musical – Petula Clark CBE, Zizi Strallen and Charlie Stemp, who play the Bird Lady, Mary Poppins and Bert respectively.

William asked where they were performing and Zizi told him it was the Prince Edward Theatre, opening this week.

‘We are doing a show tonight,’ she added, explaining how the cast were racing to their performance after opening the variety show.

‘I love Mary Poppins!’ William exclaimed. Petula Clark told Kate she would have to bring the children to the show, to which she replied: ‘They would love it.’ 

As she chatted with Ms Clark the Duchess said her children had been really excited about where she and William were going – particularly the dancing and singing – and asked if they could come, but she had to tell them: ‘Not on a school night!’

Tonight’s performance is hosted by comedians Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan, and includes the cast of Mary Poppins, Lewis Capaldi, Mabel, Robbie Williams, the cast of Come From Away, and a special collaboration by Emeli Sandé and Manchester’s Bee Vocal choir. 

After the show the duke and duchess went on stage at the London Palladium to meet the performers.

William was left in stitches was he was jokingly handed a ‘commemorative’ tea towel by the show’s hosts, comedians Rob Beckett and Ramesh Ranganthan, which had their faces on instead of his and Kate’s.

The prince roared with laughter and said he would try to find something to do with it.

Beckett said: ‘Maybe you know someone who might want it. ‘ ‘Yeah, the dog will love it,’ joked William, who told the the two men that hopefully they could relax now, When Kate was given a bouquet of flowers by two youngsters who star in the new Mary Poppins musical, Nuala Peberby, 14, and Fred Wilcox, nine, the prince told them: ‘How come I get a dodgy tea towel and she gets some flowers?’

Nuala revealed afterwards that Kate had told her that George and Charlotte – particularly her daughter – love performing and putting on little shows at home.

‘She said that her children love performing at home, particularly Charlotte,’ she said.

‘She told us how lucky we were to be on stage in the West End and asked how we managed to do it with all our school work. I can’t tell you how exciting it was to meet them. ‘ William also chatted at length with former take That That star Robbie Williams, who was wearing an eye-caching pair of black velvet shoes with his initials embroidered in gold on them.

‘They’re not too much?’ Laughed Williams.

‘No, never,’ said the prince, who was also wearing a pair of velvet slippers with his tux.

Kate chatted with the singer about having young children and juggling work and the music business with being a dad.

The couple also talked to singer Lewis Capaldi, 23, and told the Scottish singer-songwriter that they ‘loved’ his music.

‘I mean they might have been lying,’ he said afterwards, ‘but they seemed genuine. The duke also told me that I could talk for Britain. ‘ The couple were also captivated by six-year-old Aurelia from the acrobatic group Zurcaroh.

She said afterwards that Kate had told her George and Charlotte loved doing acrobatics at home, particularly handstands and cartwheels.

‘It was such an honour to perform for them,’ she said.

The comic pair introduced the royal couple and joked that they were on a ‘date night’ as the camera focused on them laughing and giggling in the Royal Box – William nodding with mock seriousness.

The comedians asked whether they had paid the babysitter to stay ‘until 12 or 1’ – joking: ‘It’s always worth £20 for the extra hour.’

Ranganathan said he, like the Cambridges, had three children and guessed that William and Kate thought the same thing when they saw their three little faces running into their bedroom each morning: ‘Why did we do this?’ The royal couple roared.

There were also a couple of ‘close to the knuckle’ jokes, with Beckett and Ranganathan teasingly pointing out their mothers in the audience ‘sitting on the subs bench like the cast of Loose Women’.

Ranganathan even joked that his mother was ‘technically an illegal immigrant’.

Giles Cooper, chairman of the Royal Variety charity, said he was delighted that William and Kate could attend and that they tried to adapt the programme each year to something that they knew would appeal to their royal guests.

This year, he explained, it was the Bee Vocal Choir, a group formed to help those with mental health issues and improve emotional wellbeing through music.

They were singing with Emeli Sande, performing her song You Are Not Alone which was written about depression.

‘We thought Prince William would be appreciative of it,’ he said, adding they had to put together a last minute re-scheduling of the show due to Sir Rod Stewart’s last minute absence and wished him well.

Headline act Rod was unfortunately forced to pull out at the last minute on ‘strict doctor’s orders’ due to a throat infection. 

He tweeted that he was ‘absolutely devastated’ to be unable to perform and described it as an ‘amazing show which I love being part of’.

‘I’m very disappointed that I can’t be there to give my support,’ he said.

Mr Cooper said: ‘We managed – that’s showbusiness! We are hugely appreciative of the Royal Family’s support and have quite the show for them tonight.’

He said the performance normally raised around £850,000 for the charity as a result of ticket sales and global television rights.

Prior to the show, Kate was presented with a posy of flowers picked from the garden of the Royal Variety Charity’s residential home in west London, Brinsworth House.

This year it is called ‘Frosty Winter Garden’ and was presented by Lydia Jones, 10, while a programme was presented to William by Oliver Hinton, eight. 

Other celebrities also in attendance included Robbie Williams’ wife Ayda Field, TV presenter Gloria Hunniford and actress Vicki Michelle.

Earlier today the duke and duchess shared a series of throwback photographs ahead of the Royal Variety Performance on the Kensington Royal Instagram account.

The couple posted four snaps including a black and white photograph of the Queen arriving for the #RoyalVarietyPerformance in 1952, with The Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Margaret. 

The other photos included Prince William and Kate attending the event in 2014, where the duchess donned a stunning black lace gown by Diane von Furstenberg while 16 months pregnant.   

The third snap showed Kate shaking hands with one of the performers in a floor-length power blue Jenny Packham gown, while a fourth captured a smiley Prince William engaging in conversation with Dame Joan Collins, as Torvill and Dean looked on in the background.  

Alongside the photos, the caption explained: ‘The money raised from the show helps hundreds of entertainers throughout the UK, who need help and assistance as a result of old age, ill-health, or hard times.’ 

The origins of the Royal Variety Performance date back to 1912, when King George V and Queen Mary agreed to attend a Royal Command Performance at the Palace Theatre in London, in aid of the Variety Artistes’ Benevolent Fund. 

In July 1919, the second Royal show was performed and was the first to be billed a ‘Royal Variety Performance’. 

Held at London’s Coliseum, the show was staged as a ‘celebration of peace’ and, as the official announcement expressed it, ‘had been commanded by The King to show his appreciation of the generous manner in which artistes of the variety stage had helped the numerous funds connected with the War’.