Apart from the briefest of glimpses of Katei, when she was photographed leaving a plush restaurant with the Duchess of Cornwall, Kate Middleton has been pretty much "hidden" from public life, let’s all hope it stays that way for Katei, because we all know happened to poor old Diana?.
Being hidden is no mean feat, given the apparently insatiable international demand for updates about the engaged couple.
On a cold December’s night, Kate by William's side, attended a charity event in Norfolk, and this was being seen as the next stage of her new life.
So far Katei is tiptoeing, not striding along this royal path. Her guide is William, a cautious prince who is very influenced by the painful history of his mother Diana.
Only thirteen days after Diana engagement to Charles’s had been announced, William's Mother Diana was catapulted into the nation's consciousness, and poor old Diana hadn’t a clue what she had let herself in for.
For her first public engagement, the then Lady Diana Spencer wore a beautiful strapless black taffeta silk ball gown which I remember well, and which the author Andrew Morton described as having a "plunging, gravity-defying décolletage" which only went to show not only did he have no dress but no perception of Diana, because he failed to see? It was… who inside the ball gown that was in fact defying-gravity Diana she was stunning, it was like looking upon a face of an angel.
Morton also records how Diana found the event a "horrendous occasion", and when she confided in the late Princess Grace of Monaco, the former film star joked, "Don't worry. It will get a lot worse" which it did for poor Diana.
There is believe it or not? A guide on to how not to introduce someone into the royal fold and it was written in the 80s and then updated in 90s. It is a "manual" William will refer to, as he begins to show his unsuspecting fiancée the Royal secret ropes.
Norfolk was just a dry run for Katie, which was more a fun night out for her easing her in.
There was no pre-publicity and, in advance, Royal officials were vague about whether or not Kate Middleton would join Willis at the charity fundraiser.
But by contrast, scheduled outings in Anglesey and St Andrews have been known about for weeks and camera crews from several nations will be at the locations to record Kate's every move and facial expressions just like Diana, and this will be where circus beings for Katie.
William and Kate's event will last about an hour or so.
William works as an RAF search and rescue pilot on Anglesey and Katie stays with him, from time to time, in his secluded farmhouse. During her 90 minutes or so on display, the apprentice Royal will shake dozens of hands, listen attentively to speeches and pour champagne over a new RNLI lifeboat which William will have just named.
She will also have an opportunity to stack a few lbs. on, with some with Bara birth Welsh fruitcake prepared for the guests by the local Ladies Guild.
The next day, it will be up to British Scotland for more of the same.
William and Kate will be returning to St Andrews where they first met 10 years ago.
Back then, by her own account, she went bright red and "sort of scuttled off" after her first encounter with a prince. Now she is returning with him on her arm to launch the university's 600th anniversary appeal.
She will attend a reception; watch her future husband unveil a plaque; and probably go on her first walkabout. And then, when that is done, Katie and William will, quite deliberately, disappear from view for a while.
He has his work to do; and she will focus on their wedding plans. Anglesey and St Andrews are the templates for how this couple will work, well at the moment but things do have a habit of changing.
There will be, what their aides call, "spikes" in activity - the forthcoming tour of Canada is an example - followed by periods when William and Katie will be below the radar.
This, they hope, is the recipe for a sane and stable relationship.
But no matter what the pace, the trajectory is very clear, Katie is starting her lifelong? We hope Royal employment.
Diana's sisters told her when she was having a pre-wedding wobbles: "Bad luck. Your face is on the tea-towels so you're too late to chicken out". One would hope that’s not all the advice they gave her?
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