Raising the concept of the doting father-in-law to new heights is Kate’s sartorial benefactor, Prince Charles. Charles is due to disclose his spending for the first time since last April in coming days, and royal-watchers expect spending on Kate’s wardrobe to appear as a line item on his Household budget.

The Daily Mail estimates that more than £35,000 of Charles’s expenditure may have been devoted to outfitting the Duchess. It’s an estimate based on the off-the-peg cost of the ready-to-wear and high-street items Kate wears to official events, as well as educated guesses as to the price of bespoke pieces she wears to more formal events.

The couture-level pieces that , Sarah Burton of and —who told the Telegraph Kate is ‘a fantastic person to work with.... a woman of her time’—design for Kate can cost several thousands of pounds. The Duchess balances this lavish outlay by mixing high-street pieces in with the designer ones and re-wearing the most precious designs to multiple events.

We do have to wonder how Kate must feel about her spending habits being laid bare to the public. After all, she can’t exactly sneak a new dress into her wardrobe and tell William it’s just ‘some old thing I’ve had for ages’ when the world is watching. Maybe it's a good thing we’re not royals after all...

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