Carole Middleton Hits The Royal Ascot In A Very Kate-y Outfit (PHOTOS)

While we swelter stateside, the Brits are out and about at the Royal Ascot, donning dress code-appropriate hats and all sorts of chic sheath dresses for the biggest horse race of the year.

It's hard to know where to focus: the hats are so wacky (one girl wore a plate of breakfast on her head) that we can't stop looking... but who cares when there are royals around! Princesses, duchesses, countesses and even a royal mother-in-law. On Thursday Carole Middleton got gussied up for the Royal Ascot's Ladies Day... and she looked a lot like her famous daughter.

Mama Middleton donned a long-sleeve red coat over a matching red dress, topping it off with a large red hat, a brooch, a nude clutch and nude pumps (hm, sounds familiar...) If the outfit reminded you of Catherine, that's because it was a dead ringer for the red Catherine Walker ensemble the duchess wore on her Canadian Royal Tour .

Come to think of it, it also looks much like Kate's barge-riding outfit from the Diamond Jubilee boat parade , worn three weeks ago.

The similarity shouldn't shock, as the Middleton girls have raided each other's wardrobes before -- at the Royal Ascot, no less: Carole attended the event in 2010 wearing a blue Reiss dress borrowed from Kate .

So how does Carole's outfit stack up? Check her look, her daughterly inspiration and tons more pics from the 2012 Royal Ascot below.

PHOTOS:

See all the dukes, countesses, princesses and wild hats at the 2012 Royal Ascot!

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