"By far the best dressing up outfit I ever had was a wonderful pair of clown dungarees, which my Granny made"
About this Quote
The phrase “by far the best” is doing heavy lifting. It signals certainty and warmth, a person staking a claim to ordinary pleasures in a life defined by extraordinary scrutiny. “Wonderful” is the safe adjective of someone trained to avoid controversy, yet the specificity of “clown dungarees” introduces texture: not just “a costume,” but a costume that implies silliness, performance, permission to be messy. The subtext is a kind of approved mischief, the royal version of saying: I know how to laugh at myself.
Then there’s the real emotional anchor: “which my Granny made.” That clause reframes value away from brand and toward care. It’s also a quiet nod to intergenerational femininity - the labor of women that often sits behind childhood magic without being credited. In public-relations terms, it positions her as relatable without trying too hard, and as safely nostalgic in a moment when the monarchy’s survival depends on looking human, not untouchable. The costume isn’t just cute; it’s a story about belonging, craft, and the kind of family intimacy that cannot be bought.
Quote Details
| Topic | Grandparents |
|---|---|
| Source | Verified source: Party Pieces blog interview (Kate Middleton, 2012)
Evidence: By far the best dressing up outfit I ever had was a wonderful pair of clown dungarees, which my Granny made. They were white with big red spots and she used a small hula hoop for the waistband , genius!. The earliest primary-source attribution I could verify is a now-deleted April 2012 blog/interview post on the Middleton family business website, Party Pieces, where she appeared as “Kate from Party Pieces.” A contemporary report in the London Evening Standard on 12 April 2012 states that the interview had appeared that month on the Party Pieces website and was later removed. A later secondary source preserving fuller wording says the quote was 'via MSNBC.com,' but I could not directly verify the MSNBC original because NBC/MSNBC pages were inaccessible here. The Standard independently confirms the same interview context and paraphrases the clown-dungarees remark, which strongly supports Party Pieces as the original publication venue. Other candidates (1) Kate Middleton (Portia Summers, 2017) compilation96.0% ... Kate Says : " By far the best dressing up outfit I ever had was a wonderful pair of clown dungarees , which my Gr... |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Middleton, Kate. (2026, March 7). By far the best dressing up outfit I ever had was a wonderful pair of clown dungarees, which my Granny made. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/by-far-the-best-dressing-up-outfit-i-ever-had-was-162320/
Chicago Style
Middleton, Kate. "By far the best dressing up outfit I ever had was a wonderful pair of clown dungarees, which my Granny made." FixQuotes. March 7, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/by-far-the-best-dressing-up-outfit-i-ever-had-was-162320/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"By far the best dressing up outfit I ever had was a wonderful pair of clown dungarees, which my Granny made." FixQuotes, 7 Mar. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/by-far-the-best-dressing-up-outfit-i-ever-had-was-162320/. Accessed 13 Mar. 2026.





