kate middleton sunday

The sweet way Kate Middleton quietly honoured her grandmother on Remembrance Sunday

The Duchess of Cambridge joined the royal family at the Cenotaph

Content Managing Editor
Updated: November 11, 2019

The royal family gathered to pay tribute to the nation's war heroes this weekend for Remembrance Sunday. And for the Duchess of Cambridge, there were three relatives who were particularly on her mind as she paid her respects at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London. Kate was spotted wearing The Codebreakers Brooch, most likely in honour of her grandmother Valerie Glassborow, Valerie's twin sister Mary and her great-aunt, who all served as codebreakers at Bletchley Park during the Second World War.

WATCH: Royal family pays tribute on Remembrance Sunday

The £29.99 brooch is available to buy on The Poppy Shop and is described as "an extraordinary tribute to the work of those in signal intelligence". The description reads: "Inspired by the rotors of the Enigma machines, from which Allied cryptologists successfully decrypted a vast number of enemy messages during the Second World War, the Codebreakers brooch is an extraordinary tribute to the work of those in signal intelligence. Each elegant brooch comes with a certificate to remember one of the 13,000 men and women on the Bletchley Park Roll of Honour and is presented in a keepsake box."

SHOP The codebreakers brooch, £19.99, The Poppy Shop

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© Photo: Getty Images

Kate was spotted wearing The Codebreakers Brooch

In May, Kate paid a fascinating visit to Bletchley Park to meet young children taking on the role of codebreakers. The mother-of-three viewed a special D-Day exhibition to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, and joined a group of youngsters in their codebreaking workshop. The boys and girls re-enacted what it was like in June 1944 to intercept and decipher German communications.

Kate opened up about her grandmother Valerie Glassborow, and Valerie's twin sister Mary, saying: "My granny and her sister worked here. It's very cool. When she was alive sadly she could never talk about it. She was so sworn to secrecy that she never felt able to tell us."

© Photo: Getty Images

She shared a balcony with Camilla and the Queen

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She also spent time with four women, who had worked at Bletchley at the same time as her relatives: Rena Stewart, who worked in Hut 3; Georgina Rose, a Teleprinter Operator and Morse Code Slip Reader in Block E; Elizabeth Diacon, a Teleprinter Room Supervisor, serving Hut 3, Hut 6 and Hut 8; and Audrey Mather, a Teleprinter Operator who was based in Block E. "You were very important," the Duchess told the women. "Your families must be very proud."

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