Kate Middleton appears to address absence from royal duties with touching remark during latest appearance

Kate Middleton seemed to reference her absence from royal duties on Thursday (4 September) as she made an appearance after seven weeks away.

The Princess of Wales, 43, joined her husband Prince William, 43, at the Natural History Museum in London for their first joint official engagement since their summer break.

Kate has been a patron of the institution since 2013 and today's visit was to take a tour of the museum's gardens, which are being used as a teaching resource.

The royal couple got caught in a downpour as they met with a group of school children who were participating in the museum's educational programmes.

As it started to rain, she held up an umbrella and told the teachers: "Let them go in, let's take them inside, it's pouring," as per the BBC.

Arriving at the museum's door, according to the Mirror, Kate told Dr Sandy Knapp: "Sorry it's been such a long time for me to come back," seemingly addressing her time away from royal duties."

Kate Middleton and Prince William returned to royal duties together today after their summer break (Neil Mockford/Getty Images)

Kate last visited the museum back in 2021, while it was in the early stages of development for the Urban Nature Project.

Sitting down in the activity centre, she said: "Sorry we are a bit wet. It was nice and dry and then suddenly within seconds, it was such a lovely day."

William laughed and added: "But it's nature, in amongst nature."

During the outing, the Princess of Wales also showed off her new blonde locks, after swapping out her chocolate brown for a much lighter colour.

She wore her long tresses in loose curls and sported a brown blazer layered over a white shirt for the official outing.

Kate first gave fans a glimpse of her new look last month, when she and Prince William were spotted on their way to a church service in Scotland with their three children: Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and seven-year-old Prince Louis.

Through the car window, eagle-eyed royal fans noticed the change in her hair and that it was considerably lighter.

At the time, social media users rushed online to compliment Kate on the switch up, writing: "That's a gorgeous colour!" and "Talk about a hair transformation."

During the outing, Kate showed off her stunning new blonde locks (Karwai Tang/Getty Images)

A third Twitter user wrote: "Royal glow-up alert!" while a fourth wrote: "Nice to see her looking so well after her health struggles. The blonde suits her."

When Kate first gave the sneak peak of her new locks, behavioural and body language expert Darren Stanton said it's likely to mark a new era in her life

He said: “When people change their hair in such a dramatic way, it’s all about renewal, confidence, change and evolution.

“This is the most dramatic and significant change she can make on an external basis.”

On behalf of Betfair Slots, the expert added: “While this would be a small thing in a normal person, she knows that this will go viral globally.

“Internally she’s feeling very powerful, in the best possible way - she’s feeling empowered.”

Darren added that the major appearance change is a demonstration of how ‘confident and empowered' she’s feeling and that she is ‘looking forward to the next chapter’.

“Not just in a personal sense but also in her professional life,” he quipped.