Royal Watch News

Duchess Catherine returns to royal duties

Feb 18, 2013, 12:02 GMT

Duchess of Cambridge

The Duchess of Cambridge will return to royal duties this week.

Duchess Catherine is set to return from holidaying in Mustique with her family and start back on her charity work, visiting Action On Addiction in London, which she is a patron of.

The visit will mark the start of a string of public engagements and the Duchess will also add three new charities to the list of those she represents.

A Palace spokesperson told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: 'The Duchess is already patron of four charities and will add a small number to that list.'

Meanwhile Catherine is also reportedly recruited friends Natasha Rufus Isaacs and Lavinia Brennan to help design her maternity wear, as her baby bump grows.

A source said: 'She's determined to remain fashionable between now and the birth and doesn't want to be seen as frumpy.'

For inspiration the royal and her friends could visit the London Fashion and Textile Museum, who are holding a retrospective of the fashion house Belville Sassoon which features many designs of David Sassoon, who worked closely with Princess Diana from her engagement to the Prince of Wales in 1981, through to the 1990s.

Items featured in the exhibition include designs for Diana's maternity wear and the 'fairy princess' dress she wore shortly before announcing her first pregnancy.