Kate smiles through ‘plastic’ row

As the debate raged on, Kate Midleton took it all in her stride.

Labelled a “shop-window mannequin” with no personality, whose only purpose is to breed, the duchess of Cambridge visited a treatment centre in south London, in her role as patron of Action on Addiction, to meet women who are rebuilding their lives as controversial novelist Hilary Mantel did her best to dismantle hers.

During a lecture at the British Museum, Mantel, the double Booker Prize winner, said Kate appeared to have been “gloss-varnished” with a perfect plastic smile, in contrast to Princess Diana, who she described as awkward and emotionally incontinent.