She is nearly eight months pregnant and showing an all-too-recognisable baby bump. But the otherwise miraculously slim Duchess of Cambridge admitted today that sometimes she forgets she is pregnant.
Her confession came during a tour of artists’ studios in Margate, Kent, where she met Jenny Cranstone, a former hotelier and one of a series of local characters who took part in an art project recalling old Margate.
Mrs Cranstone said: “I said, ‘You’re looking very trim.’ She said, ‘I sometimes forget I’m pregnant.’
“I had five children, and I know how good she looks. She does. We both had a good laugh.
“It was not a Queen Victoria ‘we are not amused’. She was amused.”
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The duchess also indulged in some baby talk when she met six-week-old Evan and his parents, Tim Ratliff and Tamsin Landells, both architects.
“It was good to meet another working mum,” said Ms Landells, 33.
However Ms Landell’s idea of what it means to be a working mother may be slightly different from that of the duchess.
The architect, who with her partner was responsible for the recently finished creative hub at the Resort Studios, said: “The creative hub was on site when I had Evan. I was back on site after three days. It was my baby, the site, along with my other baby. I couldn’t leave.
“I was coming down to the site between feeds. But that is the great thing about a partnership, you share everything. We share the parenthood side of things too.”
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The duchess appeared to have been suitably impressed with Evan, who was cradled in his father’s arms. “She said he was really tiny, and very cute.”
As for Prince George, the duchess said he was “running around quite a lot”, said Ms Landells. “He sounds quite a handful – she is chasing after him a little bit. We’ve got that to look forward to.”
During the tour the duchess met Heidi Plant, 35, an artist who is pregnant with her third child. “She was just saying ‘Congratulations, and good luck with number three.’ I just said congratulations too.”
Resort Studios, based in Cliftonville, one of the more deprived parts of Margate now trying to encourage a renaissance, provides working space to 40 painters, designers, printers, jewellers, writers and other artists.
Sadie Hennessy, who created a series of artworks combining portraits of Margate characters and old picture postcards, said: “We are the bohemian element of the tour.”
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The duchess met Ron Scott, 65, who runs an antique furniture business in the town. After posing for a picture with the duchess in front of his own portrait, he said: “I said I run a family business where nine members of my family work. We do antiques, second-hand, retro.
“She said she and William really like antiques – they would like to buy some for their place. She said, ‘We will have to pop in and buy some stuff when it’s more convenient’.”