Duchess Kate turns 30 years old on Monday. She’s six months older than William – and I believe Camilla Parker-Bowles is older than Charles as well, right? So, given that Kate is now a member of the royal family and given that she has pretty much spent the first 30 years of her life unemployed, wandering around getting her hair done and doing a spot of shopping, you’d think that everyone would be going all out for her birthday party. Not so! A palace spokesman said that Kate’s birthday plans are going to be on the DL: “Whatever is planned will be low-key and private.” I have a theory – Kate doesn’t want to remind people that she’s older than William. She doesn’t want to remind people that she’s 30 years old, yet gets treated like a lay-about teenager, praised for doing the bare minimum. She doesn’t want to remind people that she’s not pregnant yet as she’s entering her 30s, which makes her an oddity in the royal family (the royal women tend to get knocked up in their 20s).

Really, though, I’m just writing this post because I wanted to talk about this article that Us Weekly published yesterday. It’s all about how we too can stay “fit” like Duchess Kate.

She may be a Duchess, but Kate Middleton is a commoner when it comes to her workouts.

“For as long as I’ve known her, she’s never had a trainer,” says an aide of the royal, who squeezes in three 40-minute workouts each week.

When in London, the slim, 5-foot-10 beauty visits Clarence House’s small private gym for rowing, running and weight training. But when she’s home in Anglesey, Wales, with hubby Prince William, 29, “she never works out indoors, regardless of how rough the weather is. She likes to go on hikes, carrying small weights for her arms. She says it kills two birds with one stone,” says the palace aide, adding, “William joins her on weekends.”

Kate, 29, keeps eating simple too. Though one pal says, “she hates dieting,” she sticks to healthy picks like oatmeal, dried fruit and almonds. “Kate’s not much into sweets,” says the aide, “but she does love Kettle chips!”

[From Us Weekly]

BULLS–T. Kate didn’t go from a pleasantly athletic, healthy figure to a really, really skinny figure by just doing three workouts a week and eating oatmeal. Yes, Kate was already thinning herself out circa 2008-10, but she still had an athletic, healthy-looking build. Then when the engagement came, it seemed like she was losing weight for the wedding, and then it just kept coming off until she looked like she could snap like a twig. She was on diet, and my guess is that it was an intense one. She’s also a smoker, although she doesn’t want you to know that – she was allegedly smoking a lot to keep the weight off all of last year.

Last Kate story, I swear – People Magazine has a lengthy interview with Diana’s former protection officer Ken Wharfe, who often comments about the security concerns of the royal family. Wharfe says that it’s horrible that Kate and William’s security plans for their multi-million-dollar Kensington Palace renovation were made public. I don’t know why we should be upset, though. Aren’t we being sold an image of William and Kate as simple country folk who are happiest in Wales? Why would they ever need to be in London, right? Oh, what’s that? That’s just a BS image that the palace is trying to sell?

Photos courtesy of Fame, WENN.