The evidence is strictly circumstantial, but speculation is building once again that Kate might be pregnant after Prince William accepted a baby present during a walkabout in Cambridge today.
William was given a romper suit with a picture of a helicopter and the words “Daddy’s little co-pilot”, but rather than hand it back, a clearly delighted William told the lady who gave it to him, 'I'll keep that,' and handed it to an aide, according to the Daily Mirror.
A source told the Royalist earlier this year that Kate was pregnant, but that the couple had decided to delay announcing the pregnancy until it could no longer be hidden.
Speculation has been building that the couple who married in April last year are expecting ever since Kate twice drank a royal toast with water on tour in Singapore in September.
At the most recent event which William and Kate attended at which alcohol was served - a fundraiser for St Andrew's University - they both avoided alcohol.
Yesterday night Kate was at an event and although most attention was focused on her new hair style, some commentators thought the way she held her hands in front of her abdomen even when climbing stairs was a pregnancy clue.
Although one can well understand why Kate finds the constant attention on her body and pregnancy status unsettling, she is said to 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 in the palace who think a boy would be nice, Kate is not under the pressure that many wives of aristocratic men are under to produce a male heir. A recent change in the laws of succession mean that should Kate’s first-born child be a girl, she will inherit the throne, not lose out to a younger male child.