But PS: Why does a wan Kate look so down in the dumps?
SHE’S normally the one charming crowds and posing for photos. But the Duchess of Cambridge enjoyed an unusually low-key outing yesterday while Meghan Markle was in the limelight for her royal debut in Nottingham.
Kate, 35, had her hair scraped back and looked a little glum as she strolled towards King’s Cross station in London.
She pulled her £ . Zara jacket closer to her in chilly temperatures of around 4C, which she teamed with a poloneck and jeans.
Kate, who usually wears towering heels, was instead wearing black flat boots as she enjoyed an off-duty morning alone.
It is unclear where the duchess, who is due to give birth to her third child in April, was going but her arrival at the station coincided with that of Harry and his fiancee, who travelled to the Midlands by rail.
ON THE day Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced the wonderful news of their engagement, his sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, was making a lowkey visit to a museum.
Kate was her usual charming and highly competent self, chatting to youngsters and lending support to a charity associated with the museum.
But I couldn’t help noticing that, having been terribly poorly again with her third pregnancy, Kate looked tired. Her blue-and-white frock was pretty but mumsy, as if it had come from a 1989 Laura Ashley catalogue.
This was a far cry from the bedazzling Meghan in the grounds of Kensington Palace wearing a chic white coat — the garment sold out in minutes and the designer’s website crashed — which accentuated her gym-toned slim figure as her mane of black hair shone in the winter sun.
Asked about the engagement, Kate said she and William were ‘absolutely thrilled’ and — in somewhat stilted language — wished the couple ‘all the best and hope they enjoy this happy moment’. Her mood seemed flat.
Yes, she was tired from her pregnancy. And who would blame her if she felt some apprehension at Meghan’s whirlwind appearance on her turf?
For this week we’ve seen the arrival of a new fairytale princess: Meghan the TV star, humanitarian, fighter for women’s rights, champion of the impoverished, icon of inclusiveness. It is not just that Meghan — eloquent and supremely confident in front of the TV cameras — is now going to grab the fashion headlines. Her emergence changes the family dynamic.
Until now it’s always been William and Kate, the star couple, alongside the slightly forlorn singleton, Harry.
They were the three musketeers fighting for the causes they cherished in tribute to the boys’ mother: the homeless, mentally ill, those affected by land mines, children suffering from HIV.
The irony is that Kate and Meghan have a great deal in common — both are strong, beautiful women from ordinary backgrounds who set their cap at a prince and won his heart. BUT, as yesterday’s hugely successful walkabout in Nottingham showed, Meghan for now is the box office royal. Witness how she and Harry were utterly at ease with the crowd, highfiving, hugging, happy and relaxed.
I hesitate to say this, but they made William and Kate look a mite formal and po-faced in comparison.
Yes, Meghan mania is here. And Kate may have difficulty coping with it. Whether the Diana- style adulation these young women receive is good for them, their families or the long-term health of the Royal Family is another matter altogether.