Although she didn’t raise a fist in anger all evening, Kate Middleton was the undoubted star of the Boodles Boxing Ball at the Royal Lancaster Hotel.

Outshining all others — even the glamorous Chelsy Davy, sultry in blue — Kate stood out among a distinguished audience comprising members of the Royal Family and other guests, who were there to support their favourite amateur boxers raise money for charity.

Attending on the arm of Prince William, one newspaper even referred to Kate and her boyfriend as “the Royal couple”. What does it know that we don’t?

Prince Harry and Chelsy sat at another table. Both couples hit the dancefloor to conclude the evening.

The Mail on Sunday is reporting that friends of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall say they will marry in May next year. They have been secretly engaged for some months.

Mike and Zara at Cheltenham races earlier this year

The favoured venue, as of now, seems to be St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, with a reception at Frogmore House. Zara and Mike were clearly impressed with the ambience of her brother Peter’s nuptials in May. They will not be repeating the involvement of Hello! magazine, however.

Zara’s father, Mark Phillips, who coaches his daughter in her three-day eventing specialism, has asked her to delay an announcement until after the Beijing Olympics to concentrate on winning a gold medal. Zara has been the European Champion and currently holds the World title.

Any other Royal wedding planned for next year is likely to be in mid-summer to avoid a clash.

As it’s a slow news Sunday here’s a shot of the River Exe I took this morning.

The River Exe at Exeter with two canoeists enjoying the June weather

Prince Harry grinned and cavorted before an audience of pupils and staff from Cathays High School in Cardiff yesterday. In return he was greeted more like a pop star than a member of the Royal Family.

Prince Harry nursing a baby in Wales

On a first day of engagements in Wales, Harry was there to learn about the school’s work with disadvantaged children in Africa by forging links with a school in the kingdom of Lesotho, home to Harry’s own charity, Sentebale.

At one point Harry held a small baby and joked, “It’s not mine!” He then paused in front of Matthew Taylor, a red-haired 12-year-old who said after meeting the Prince: “We all thought he was going to walk past but he actually took the time to stop and talk to us. He said to me ‘I’m ginger – gingers love gingers.’”

Harry will be joining members of his regiment, the Blues and Royals, in Lesotho later this summer to help build care facilities and repair infrastructure for projects supported by Sentebale.

The Prince certainly demonstrated his common touch among the people of Wales yesterday. As the second son, his gurning and comedy routines are a breath of fresh air. For Prince William, though, they would be a performance too far.

It’s yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum for our sailor Prince as William takes up his two month secondment with the Royal Navy. Let’s hope the title line of that song doesn’t apply too often.

Following his training period at the Britannia Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon, the Prince will join HMS Iron Duke on drugs patrol in the Caribbean.

Full details of the deployment can be found here in the Clarence House briefing.

The RN stint ends in August when he will take a break before rejoining his Army regiment until January. He may be assigned to other duties during this period, since four months in Windsor Barracks would be something of an anticlimax after all that has gone before.

There’s much speculation about the crucial August break in the context of his relationship with Kate Middleton. Readers of Royal Anecdotes will be aware of what that is. We are saying nothing.