Kate Feeling Better, May Fulfill Christmas Engagements

Some good news at last from the royal pregnancy – Kate’s feeling better, really, according to royal sources, and is hopeful that the worst of her acute morning sickness, hyperemesis gravidarum – is behind her.

Having been ‘50/50’ on whether or not she would be able to make it to Sandringham for the royal Christmas celebrations earlier this week, royal sources now say that William and Kate are hopeful that they will be able to announce either later today or tomorrow that they will be spending Christmas at the royal estate in Norfolk after all.

Their attendance at Sandringham will be expected to include making a public appearance at the local church on Christmas day and talking to the locals, as is customary. Last year, Kate spent over an hour talking to members of the public on Christmas day.

“They were 50/50 for the past few weeks about whether they would make it to Sandringham, but things are definitely now improving,” one insider tells the Royalist. “She has felt well enough to go out over the past few days so that is a positive sign.”

When she left hospital, Kate’s staff let it be known that she was effectively canceling all her remaining engagements for the year, but she shocked her staff and the public when she pressed ahead with an appearance at the BBC show for Sports Personality of the Year award on Sunday night, showing up in a stunning green McQueen gown to present cyclist Bradley Wiggins with his trophy.

Given the royals pivotal role as cheerleaders during the Olympics in London this week, sources say that Kate felt it was an event she could not miss.

However, the Duchess only stayed for about 45 minutes of the four-hour show, but she did say she was feeling "much better."

On Wednesday she was spotted in a Notting Hill restaurant, Bumpkin, joining in a Christmas party for her and William’s staff, and yesterday Kate was among the guests who attended a big Royal family lunch at Buckingham Palace, with William, Charles, Camilla and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and various minor royals who do not get invited to Sandringham.

The London lunch is an annual event hosted by the Queen.

Us weekly magazine is reporting today that Michael and Carole Middleton are to spend Christmas day at Sandringham, but royal sources tell the Beast that is ‘unlikley’. Officially, the palace is only confirming that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh wil be at Sandringahm at Christmas.

Dr Kent Sepkowitz described hyperemesis gravidarum on the Daily Beast as the ‘evil older sister’ morning sickness, writing: “Morning sickness resembles hyperemesis the way a twisted ankle resembles a compound fracture with two bones sticking out through the skin. This hyperemesis is a real medical condition affecting 1 or 2 percent of women early in pregnancy. In the olden days, before IV fluid was routine, women died of hyperemesis due to the severe dehydration it caused (including Charlotte Brontë, according to apocryphal legend). More commonly, afflicted women felt so bad day after day, week after week that death seemed preferable.”

Palace sources say that Kate is still less than 12 weeks pregnant.