A strict vegan diet — red wine allowed

AS HER brother Gary indicated, Carole has always been slender. Perhaps this is a legacy from her days as an air hostess, when a premium was put on an immaculately polished exterior. She has maintained her slim figure through three children and the dawning of middle age. Before daughter Kate’s wedding in 2011 she famously went on the Dukan diet — a high-protein, low-carb regime devised by French nutritionist Dr Pierre Dukan, telling a Sunday newspaper in October 2010: ‘I’ve been doing it for four days, and I’ve lost 4lb.’ Sales of Dr Dukan’s book soared as a result, and when asked the secret of his success, he put it down to two factors: ‘It works . . . and Carole Middleton!’ More recently, though, she is said to follow her other daughter Pippa’s advice on all things fitness and exercise, as Pippa, a former sports scholar at

Marlborough College, is an expert. And both Pippa and Carole apparently follow the Sirtfood diet which allows only certain foods, including turmeric, red wine, dates, walnuts, blueberries, apples, citrus fruits, parsley, capers, green tea, soy, strawberries, olive oil, red onion, rocket and that old healthlover’s favourite, kale. In an interview last year, Carole revealed that she had become a vegan — an easy switch to make as many of the Sirtfoods are veg or fruit. The theory behind the diet is that certain foods ‘activate’ sirtuins, which promote metabolic health. She appears to be self-conscious about her bust and said: ‘I’m bigger round my top half than I was, so that’s why I prefer dresses to trousers and I don’t like anything tight. One of the reasons I don’t like shopping for clothes is that there aren’t enough for women my age.’