Kate Middleton has sparked a renewed bout of speculation that she may be pregnant when, during toasts at a state banquet in Singapore today, the future queen TWICE made toasts to the Queen by drinking water instead of wine.
It is highly unusual to make a royal toasts with anything but a full glass of wine, but mums-to-be are advised against drinking all alcohol.
Perhaps not co-incidentally, the Royalist has been hearing unconfirmed rumors of late from the Royal circle that Kate is pregnant, with one source saying that Kate was pregnant, but that William and Kate were planning to hold off announcing a pregnancy for 'as long as possible.'
At tonight's dinner, Kate pointedly ignored a glass of white wine - burgundy Faiveley Puligny Montracht ler Cru Garennes (2008) wine snobs may be interested to know - placed at her setting, but her husband William glugged down on the red Bordeaux offered during a seven course Chinese meal in the Banquet Hall at the official residence of the Singaporean president, which included smoked duck with sliced mango, chicken consommé with herbs, spices and wolfberries and steamed fillet of marble Goby with crispy bean crumbs in soya sauce.
Desert was chilled jelly served with mango, sago and pomelo and sliced baked mooncakes.
Friends of the Young Royals say that there is no secret about the fact that William and Kate would dearly like to get pregnant, and are actively trying for a baby.
Although one can well understand why Kate finds the constant attention on her body and pregnancy status unsettling, she does, friends say, accept that it goes with the territory when you marry a future King.William and Kate have also, perhaps unwisely, allowed themselves to be drawn into commenting on the issue themselves.
In their enagagement interview with ITN, Kate said, “I hope we will be able to have a happy family ourselves,” which prompted the interviewer to ask, “People are bound to ask, do you want lots of children?”
William replied, “I think we’ll take it one step at a time. We’ll sort of get over the marriage first and then maybe look at the kids. But obviously we want a family so we’ll have to start thinking about that.”
Of course, while there are many old-schoolers in the palace who think a boy would be more than nice, one silver lining is that Kate is not under the pressure that many wives of aristocratic men are to produce a male heir. A recent change in the laws of succession means that should Kate’s first-born child be a girl, she will inherit the throne, not lose out to a younger male child.
Stories that WillKat held off getting pregnant for fear of a pregnancy ‘overshadowing’ the Diamond Jubilee or the Olympics are dismissed by pals as pure speculation.
