The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been struck by the sad news of the death of an antenatal guru who prepared them for the birth of Prince George.
Prince William and Kate both attended antenatal classes run by Christine Hill, who has passed away at the age of 74.
Mrs Hill held discreet classes for famous faces at her home in West London and Kate reportedly visited her twice for advice in the run up to welcoming George, while William accompanied her on one occasion.
It is said that one of the most important tasks that William learned in the run-up to George's birth almost nine years ago was the tricky task of fitting a baby's seat into the back of a car.
Mrs Hill's death was revealed in the Daily Mail's Eden Confidential column, with a spokesman for her family saying: "She will be achingly missed.
"Her feisty, amusing, straightfoward demeanour won her many friends."
In 2013, shortly before the birth of George, Mrs Hill revealed the royal couple had visited her and in an interview with the Telegraph, described Kate as "a delightful girl, adding: “What you see is what you get.”
She also called the pair a "very strong team" and said she was sure William would "be doing the right stuff on the day” when it came to Kate giving birth.
Kate and William are now parents to three children, George, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4, with all three children being born at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in London.
Kate suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum during all three pregnancies, which caused severe vomiting.
Speaking during her first podcast interview, Kate said the illness meant she was "not the happiest of pregnant people".
In 2020, she sat down with Giovanna Fletcher for an episode of the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast.
She said that having tried everything to overcome the illness, she realised the importance of “mind over body” and using hypnobirthing techniques.
Kate joked: "I'm not going to say that William was standing there sort of, chanting sweet nothings at me.
"He definitely wasn't. I didn't even ask him about it, but it was just something I wanted to do for myself.
"I saw the power of it, really, the meditation and the deep breathing and things like that that they teach you in hypnobirthing when I was really sick and actually I realised that this was something that I could take control of, I suppose, during labour. It was hugely powerful."
