Kate Middleton wears turquoise hijab to visit Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan

The Duchess of Cambridge chose to wear a traditional Pakistani shalwar kameez and a scarf fashioned as a hijab for her visit to Lahore’s historic Badshahi mosque on Thursday.

The intricately embroidered design is by Maheen Khan, who has proven to be Kate Middleton’s favourite designer for the royal couple’s busy Pakistani tour.

The royals heard a Quranic recital while inside the mosque, with the duchess bowing her head in respect during the recitation. In this video you can see that the man ends one recital and just as he is about to begin another, a person who is inside with Kate and William says “thank you, thank you so much, shukria [thank you]”:

The Quranic words recited to Kate and William are from surah Maida (or chapter 5). One scholarly translation reads as below:

“To you, O Mohammad, We have revealed this Book with the truth. It confirms whatever has remained intact in the scriptures which came before it and also to safeguard it. Therefore, judge between people according to Allah’s revelations and do not yield to their vain desires diverging from the truth which has come to you. We have ordained a law and a Way of life for each of you. If Allah wanted He could have made all of you a single nation. But He willed otherwise in order to test you in what He has given you; therefore try to excel one another in good deeds. Ultimately you all shall return to Allah; then He will show you the truth of those matters in which you dispute.”

The mosque is a Mughal era structure, built in the late 1600s: it is carved from red sandstone featuring marble inlay. It is one of Pakistan’s most renowned pieces of architecture.

Princess Diana also visited the mosque on her 1991 solo visit to Pakistan.

Kate Middleton has previously worn a headscarf, doing so during a visit to a mosque in Malaysia in 2012.

Her and Prince William’s day in Lahore includes a visit to the Badshahi Mosque, to children’s charity SOS Village, to the Pakistan Cricket Academy and to Shaukat Khanam Cancer Hospital.

The duchess was seen earlier in the day wearing an embroidered shalwar kameez by Pakistani textile company Gul Ahmed and a shawl by Maheen Khan, and she even played a spot of cricket while in that outfit.

The National