Kate Middleton pictured shopping at high-end interiors Bernard Thorp in Chelsea

With only five weeks to go until her due date, Kate Middleton wants to be sure her home is ready for the baby’s arrival.

Kate Middleton, 31, has been pictured shopping with a woman thought to be a lady-in-waiting for soft furnishings at the high-end interiors specialist Bernard Thorp in Chelsea, south-west London.

The visit last Tuesday saw the Duchess of Cambridge spend 45 minutes inside the shop to decorate the new nursery at Kensington Palace in central London, less than six weeks before her due date of July 13.

Just hours earlier Kate Middleton had been with her husband Prince William, 30, and around 2,000 other guests at Westminster Abbey for a grand service to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation.

There Kate Middleton wore a delicate daisy lace dress with silver-grey ribbon detail and a soft peach shantung jacket with nude heels, before changing into a navy blue dress and magenta cardigan for her shop.

The front of the store was decked out in light blue, but there was no indication that she bought the color. It was in fact reported that Kate Middleton picked out beige and brown English handmade fabrics inside.

“Kate was fascinated by all the designs and picked out two,” a source told the Daily Star Sunday.

“She had very definite ideas about what she liked. It was boiling hot outside so the door was open.

“She was feeling the heat so we sat her down with a glass of water. The Duchess was charming and so lovely. She didn’t put on any airs or graces. She said she’d got so many ideas after coming in.”
Kate Middleton has one more scheduled official public engagement before she goes on maternity leave, when she names a ship on Thursday in Southampton, Hampshire.

The duchess will also attend Trooping the Colour next week to mark the Queen’s birthday – and is debating whether to join Prince William at the Order of the Garter ceremony in Windsor a few days later.

Bernard Thorp, which was founded in 1971, says on its website that its “hand screen printed fabrics and wall coverings are of impeccable quality with an ethos of service second to none”.