Kate Middleton is still extremely unwell and has pulled out of her last remaining public engagement before Christmas, a premiere of the new film The Hobbit in London tonight, as her condition continues to remain a cause for concern.

The Duchess spent three nights at the King Edward VII Hospital in London last week being treated for an acute form of pregnancy sickness called hyperemesis gravidarum, which can cause women to vomit up to 30 times a day. She was severely dehydrated and had to be put on a drip.

She was profoundly upset by the tragedy of nurse Jacintha Saldhana who committed suicide after she was fooled by a prank call to the hospital.

Holding a photograph of his dead wife in one arm, with the other curled protectively around his 14-year-old daughter, Benedict Barboza, 49, the husband of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse who killed herself after falling for a prank phone call, cut a dignified and tragic figure as he attended a meeting in the House of Commons in London with Britain's leading Asian member of parliament, Keith Vaz today.

Just hours earlier Mr Vaz had publicly accused her employer of failing to support them on BBC radio, suggesting that the radio DJs were being offered more support than Jacinthah's family.

Mr Barboza, a hospital accountant, embraced Mr Vaz before he went into the House of Commons with him and his family members for a meeting. Mr Vaz emerged later on and said: "They are extremely grateful to the public here in the UK and throughout the world who have sent them messages of condolences and support following the death of Jacintha - a loving mother and a loving wife. This is a close family - they are devastated by what has happened. They miss her every moment of every day."

A British member of parliament who visited Jacintha Saldanha's family at their home over the weekend said they have been left "shocked and bewildered" by her death but he expressed dismay that they have yet to be offered counseling by the King Edward VII hospital or visited in person by a representative of the hospital.

Meanwhile the hospital flatly denied claims made by the Australian radio station 2DayFM that they had made five attempts to contact the hospital prior to broadcasting the prank call. A source at the hospital's PR company told the Royalist: “We have all checked out phones, as has the hospital, and we can find no record of these calls.”

MP Keith Vaz told BBC radio: “The hospital has sent them a letter which I have seen, but I am a little surprised that nobody has made the journey to Bristol to sit with them and offer the counseling they need.  More support needs to be given. I've spoken to the chairman of the hospital. There is a need to demonstrate that support. A hundred or so miles should not prevent the kind of support that they need."

This is the full text of the interview with the Australian DJs on Channel 9.

Poor Kate Middleton is having a pretty horrible pregnancy.

And having appeared to be on the road to recovery over last week, her condition deteriorated so badly over the weekend that Prince William cancelled a public appearance at a military event last night to be by her side, and has decided to continue his compassionate leave to stay by his wife's side in London.

Kate has not been readmitted to hospital but it's still an undeniably unpleasant start to what should be one of the most joyous events in Kate's life, even before one takes into account the tragic turn of events at the King Edward VII hospital.

The duchess is known to be profoundly upset by the unfolding tragedy of the suicide of nurse Jacintha Saldanha following a prank call by two Australian DJs, and she was sufficiently unwell that William did not feel comfortable leaving her to attend the British Military Tournament at Earl's Court yesterday evening. He has now cancelled plans to return to Wales to work this week, and is instead extending his compassionate leave to remain by her side until Thursday.

The two Australian DJs who made the prank call to Kate Middleton’s hospital which appears to have led to the suicide of nurse Jacintha Saldanha on Friday have spoken for the first time since her death, giving a series of emotional interviews on Australian news channels, speaking of their devastation at the nurse’s suicide and the possibility they may have caused it.

Mel Greig said there was 'nothing that could make me feel worse than I feel now" and Michael Christian said he was, "shattered, gutted and heartbroken".

They spoke to Clare Brady on Channel 7's Today Tonight and Tracy Grimshaw on Channel 9's A Current Affair. Read a full transcript of their Channel 9 Interview here.

“I remember my first question was, 'Was she a mother?’ Ms Greig told Channel Seven. “I am very sorry and saddened for the family. I can’t imagine what they are going through ... I am just so devastated for them. I am really feeling for them. It was never meant to go that far. This wasn’t meant to happen.”

Although she was timid and described herself as ‘a very nervous person’, there was no sign that Jacintha Saldanha was suicidal, unstable or psychologically frail before the fateful moment when, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, working the night shift at King Edward VII Hospital with no full-time receptionist on duty, she picked up a ringing phone.

Down the line a mangled British accent asked to speak to “Kate, my granddaughter,” and Mrs Saldahna, for whom English was a second language, was fooled. She put the call through.

Although Prince Charles would soon be joking about the incident, laughing it off and telling reporters he might be ‘a radio station’, it was, apparently, a mistake for which Mrs Saldahna was unable to forgive herself.

Yesterday, they were bragging about “the prank call the world is talking about.” Now, the woman they duped has apparently committed suicide, and Australian DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian have voluntarily suspended themselves from their radio program.

Greig and Christian are immediate casualties—but for 2Day FM, the Sydney radio station that employed them, this disgrace has been a long time coming.

For over a decade, 2Day FM, which launched in 1980 as one of three radio stations to be granted FM broadcasting licenses in Sydney, has marched on the edge of propriety, fostering a culture of shock jocks and raunchy content. Various hosts working for the station have deployed an alarming amount of questionable stunts in an attempt to goose ratings, which have been on a roller-coaster course for much of the past decade.

The prank phone call saga in which two Australian DJs impersonated the queen and got connected to a nurse looking after Kate Middleton took a tragic turn today after the nurse who was working on reception in the early hours of Tuesday morning and put the call through committed suicide. She was found shortly after 9 a.m. today.

A St. James’s Palace Spokesman said: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Jacintha Saldanha. Their Royal Highnesses were looked after so wonderfully well at all times by everybody at King Edward VII Hospital, and their thoughts and prayers are with Jacintha Saldanha’s family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time.”

The hospital issued a statement today, saying: "With very deep sadness, the death is confirmed of a member of our nursing staff. Jacintha Saldanha has worked at the hospital for four years. She was an excellent nurse and well respected and popular with her colleagues.

"We can confirm that Jacintha was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital. The hospital had been supporting her through this difficult time. Jacintha was a first class nurse who cared diligently for hundreds of patients during her time with us. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with her family and friends."

Katie Couric said a few months ago that she thought Kate Middleton was 'too thin' and although obstetricians have said that Kate's 125-lb frame is unlikely to have been a contributing factor in her acute morning sickness, speculation continues that she is underweight, or suffering 'pregorexia', the coin termed for women dealing with eating diorders while pregnant.

Time.com carries a report on Kate's weight today, with a statemement from the National Eating Disorders Association, saying that, “some women with disordered eating are able to more easily cope with weight gain during pregnancy because they see it as a sacrifice for an important cause. But others may plunge into deep depression as they struggle with the tension between the idea of weight gain and their body image issues.”

However, the news weekly's website has struggled to get an expert to state categorically that she is too thin to carry a child safely. The report states:

While the rest of the Royal-watching population have spent the past few days focused on Kate’s extreme morning sickness, London’s super-rich Moms have been busily speculating about where the royal tot will be born.

London, like New York, Los Angeles or Hong Kong, has an extensive choice of posh maternity hospitals. Princess Diana had her boys at the private Lindo wing of St Mary’s Paddington (with no drugs). The luxurious private rooms at Queen Charlotte’s hospital in north London or the Chelsea and Westminster at the top of the King’s Road are popular choices for London’s more affluent mothers-to-be. But the betting has shortened significantly on Kate choosing the fanciest and most exclusive of all London’s maternity hospitals, the Portland, near Regent’s Park, after Dr Marcus Setchell, London’s grandest obstetrician, who delivers exclusively at the Portland, was spotted coming out of the King Edward hospital where Kate spent the last few days. Princesses Betarice and Eugenie were born at the Portland.

Hard to believe the woman who stepped out of a London hospital today with a Prince on her arm clutching a bunch yellow flowers had spent three days throwing up. A genius piece on The Telegraph's fashion blog congratulates her, and also breaks down Kate's out of hospital look.

What might look to some like casually pulled back hairdo, is in fact a thoroughly glossy blowdry - most likely courtesy of Kate's go-to guy, James Pryce from Atelier - neatly pinned in place, Bardot style, at the nape of her neck.

Her stylist (yes, of course she has one), picked out the perfect 'cover-up' - a sensible but pretty dress coat that leaves everything to the imagination, and a lavender pashmina scarf which not only perked up her complexion, but even coordinated with William's cosy knit.

And of course, nothing says: "You can p**s off if you think you're getting a picture of my tummy" better than an enormous bunch of strategically placed yellow roses

Kate checked out of hospital today after a three-night stay interrupted only by a prank call from an Australian radio station.

As she stepped into a waiting car, clutching a bouquet of yellow flowers with her husband by her side, the Duchess told reporters in reply to their shouted questions, "I'm feeling much better, thank you."

St James's Palace released a short statement saying: "The Duchess of Cambridge has been discharged from the King Edward VII Hospital and will now head to Kensington Palace for a period of rest.‬‪ "Their Royal Highnesses would like to thank the staff at the hospital for the care and treatment The Duchess has received.”

In yet another break with royal tradition, Prince William has been spending every spare minute by his wife's bedside over the past few days of her hospitilisation. He arrived back at King Edward hospital this morning shortly after 9am (presumably just after she had been 'freshened up').

It's quite a different attitude to his father, Prince Charles, who spent just 17 minutes with a young William when he was treated for a head injury as a schoolboy before going to the opera.

But over the next few days the young royal couple will have to face up to the fact that they are  probably going to spend a large chunk of her pregnancy separated. Kate is expected to stay in London to be near doctors because the condition that the duchess, who is believed to be only eight weeks pregnant, has been diagnosed with can last for the first five months of pregnancy and  sometimes  for the  duration. William is obliged to return to his RAF base in Anglesey in Wales to make up his flying hours, which were severely impacted by the amount of time he had to take off work for the diamond jubilee celebrations. He is currently understood to be on compassionate leave.

A third night in hospital for Kate tonight, but the tedium was relieved by a visit from brother James and sister Pippa. The two siblings stayed for just under an hour.