Kate Middleton spent Cheltenham Gold Cup day at a lunch hosted by the Queen’s Master of the Horse, Lord Vestey. Prince William was absent, presumed training with the Army — not a bad excuse as excuses go.

Pictured in the Royal Box clearly enjoying the thrills and spills of the chase, Kate was easily the centre of attention, even among the thousands of fanatical Irish supporters who come over from the Emerald Isle each year.

Spare a thought for them today, as many will have been carried to trains in a tipsy condition, heading for the port towns of Liverpool or Swansea where ferries will take them back to their horse-mad island.

Come to think of it, Kate looks a little horse-mad too. Could her ongoing riding lessons, or conversations with horse-nut Zara Phillips, have anything to do with it?

We were not told if Kate won anything at Cheltenham, or if her boyfriend had to send extra funds in an armoured car.