Kate Middleton Model

Yesterday's big news story for royal watchers is that the see-through skirt - yes, skirt; not dress - modelled by Kate Middleton at a charity fashion show at St Andrews University in 2002, when she was 19 years old, fetched £78,000 at auction in London. That price includes a £13,000 buyer's fee. Auctioneer Kerry Taylor had valued the garment at between £8,000 and £10,000. She must be over the moon. The high price paid reflects the historic value of the garment, the contents of which allegedly stirred Prince William sitting in the audience. That's the myth. The reality is they were already shacked up together. So the sight of Kate in her underwear can hardly have been a revelation. What strikes me is the novelty of a healthy and beautiful young woman on a catwalk, instead of those emaciated, knock-kneed models in the early stages of Anorexia nervosa we are used to seeing. Doesn't she make that garment look good? Fashion houses take note.