Duchess of Cambridge blooms in new role as modern royal mum

AS the Duchess of Cambridge made what many royal watchers say will be her final public appearance before she gives birth to her first child, we take a look back at how she is blossoming into a very modern royal mother.
Prince William's heavily pregnant wife Catherine overnight carried out her last solo public engagement before she gives birth next month when she christened a new liner named the Royal Princess in the southern English port of Southampton.

Captain Tony Draper and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge watch the bottle of Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial Champagne break against the newly-chiristned Royal Princess in Southampton, England. Picture: Chris Jackson- WPA Pool/Getty Images
The ceremony, conducted under a large grandstand on the quay side in front of nearly 2,000 invited guests, had echoes of a cold day in 1984 when William's late mother, Diana, officially named the first Royal Princess.
The legacy of the late Princess of Wales will be even more visible once Kate and William's baby is born in July, as she paved the way for a more modern approach to motherhood for royals. Diana broke many royal conventions as a mother with decisions such as giving birth at a hospital outside the palace walls and breastfeeding her own babies.
The royal rebel of the 1980s many have shocked the British establishment by breaking royal conventions, but Kate will now be the ultimate beneficiary of such moves as she carves out her new role as a royal mother.