Wearing a pretty fuchsia maternity dress from Seraphine that cost less than R700, in her parents back garden, Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, brushed her hair, put on some slap and rounded up her husband, Prince William, her pup Lupo, and made her dad, Michael Middleton, take a few snaps of them posing with their brand new first baby — Prince George.

This was a couple of weeks ago, and Kate is looking slim and happy, if a bit tired. The pictures are relaxed and charming, if somewhat flawed technically, the purists say. Whatever, say I. Short of releasing them via an Instagram feed, this is pretty much one of the coolest things the couple have done so far. Cecil Beaton and Lord Snowdon may have been the way to go for Wills and his dad, but as he said in his own words, "I don't like fuss. It's important that I can just do things myself." So they chose to say thank you to the British media for leaving them alone for a bit — and put a stop to any international paps getting 'the first picture' by releasing these swiftly. Clever. They know how this game is played and they are doing a great job. Oh and that colour looks FABULOUS on Kate. Let's see some more of that please. Work starts again for her on the 12th September. Can't wait.