KERRY PARNELL

official engagements between them, that’s a lot of extra work for the Cambridges to pick up.

No wonder Prince William is reported to be ropeable. Not only has he had to do all the restrained king-in-waiting stuff his whole life (no Nazi uniforms and naked poker larks for him), now he has to do all the work as well – and send his kids out into the spotlight to pick up some of the slack.

It’s the royal equivalent of stuffing your nippers up a chimney to put some bread on your Victorian tea table.

Granted, the Cambridges will never be short of bread, figuratively or literally, but you can be assured William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge would have rather let their kids play with Lego at home for a few years longer, than shove them out into the spotlight.

Still, they seem to be doing it well – the adorable photos of George making a Christmas pudding as part of a British Legion initiative in December charmed the world, especially when he formally posed with veterans, his dad and the Queen.

He has all the ingredients of a future king, polite, earnest and dutiful, as he mixed the pudding to the delight of his great-granny – unlike his uncle, who has stirred up a whole heap of trouble, cooked up a crazy plan and got himself into a right royal stew.