The Duchess of Cambridge looked graceful in green yesterday when she presented soldiers with shamrocks to mark St. Patrick’s Day.

Kate Middleton wore a stunning green coat with a chocolate brown hat and even borrowed an Irish Guards brooch from the Queen Mother when she attended the traditional parade in Aldershot.

Dressed in a bottle green Emilia Wickstead dress and Lock and Co hat, the 30-year-old looked so glorious in green that one soldier fainted before the ceremony began.

The Duchess enjoyed the ceremonial military parade before she presented shamrocks to 40 officers and their Irish wolfhound mascot. The military band played the Irish folk song 'Carrickfergus' during the ceremony.

The presenting of the shamrocks began on St Patrick's Day in 1901, when Queen Alexandra, wife of King Edward II presented the three-leafed clover to members of the regiment.

Keeping with tradition some 450 soldiers from the first battalion marched in their signature scarlet tunics and bearskins.

After the ceremony, Captain Will Jenkins (25) who spent last year in Afghanistan said it was nice to be home for the ceremony.

“Today has been fantastic. We are very lucky and honoured to have the Duchess here to carry out a long-standing tradition,” he told the Daily Mail newspaper.

“It has always been the history. It's our heritage to be presented with a shamrock."

Last year the Duke of Cambridge was appointed to the honorary rank of Colonel of the Irish Guard. On June 25 the newlyweds presented medals to the regiment for the Afghan deployment.