THE Duchess of Cambridge showed off her baby bump for the first time in public yesterday when she attended her second official engagement of the year.
Wearing a summery Max Mara dress out of season, the Duchess, who is halfway through her pregnancy, made no attempt to disguise her swelling tummy.
As she arrived at an addiction recovery centre in Clapham, south London, she stood with her hands clasped under her bump while she chatted to dignitaries.
The Duchess looked tanned after her recent holiday in Mustique, when pictures of her wearing a bikini were taken and published in some foreign magazines. She was visiting Hope House, a residential centre for women run by Action on Addiction, of which she is patron.
When she chatted to women in an art therapy class, she told one: "Well done for getting sober.''
One of Britain's most celebrated authors, Hilary Mantel, has launched a withering attack on Kate, branding her a "shop-window mannequin" with a plastic smile, whose only role in life is to breed.
Her comments about the 31-year-old wife of William divided public opinion, with newspapers condemning Mantel as "venomous", "cruel" and ''staggeringly rude".
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