Whilst “penciling in” a baby announcement for next summer, Duchess Kate has found herself wide open, with a block of someodd six months in which she really doesn’t have anything going on. What shall the Duchess do? NOTHING. No, seriously though, she’s going to begin to do some charity work. At least, that’s what we keep getting promised, although the start date seems to have changed again – we were supposed to be getting a list of Kate’s charitable patronages in January, but I think they’re moved it back until February or March. Remember when she was supposed to announce her some of her charities just after the wedding because she was studying so hard during her engagement? Sigh… Kate has turned all of us into Waitys now.

Anyway, The Mail reports that Kate was trying to do some kind of “undercover” (not really) research on a kids’ charity on Friday. Kate made an appearance at a London school, and she did it low-key, in jeans and without the phalanx of official royal photographers. There are still photos though – here at The Mail. Oh, and Kate was late. Latey Katie. My favorite parts of this story is when the kids are all “Princesses aren’t supposed to wear jeans” and “Damn, she’s REALLY skinny.”

When the Duchess of Cambridge made a secret visit last week to an art therapy charity she admires, she chose to dress down for the occasion. An informal jumper and jeans outfit, Kate decided, was appropriate for a private meeting, as she set out to learn more about an organisation that had written asking for her support.

Unfortunately for poor Kate – normally revered as a fashion icon – her venue was an inner London primary school, where young pupils had been mustered for 45 minutes in the car park to witness the occasion. And when casual Kate finally emerged from her fact-finding mission, her young fans were distinctly dubious about her Royal credentials, complaining: ‘She doesn’t look like a Princess. Where’s her dress?’

Kate, 29, has been visiting a number of charities and organisations in recent weeks as she prepares for her new role as a working Royal. She made the private visit to the Robert Blair primary school in Islington on Wednesday afternoon to find out more about The Art Room, a charity that works with challenging children and has a branch at the school.

‘Kate was dressed down in jeans and a jumper,’ a 21-year-old local woman who was collecting her three-year-old brother from the school told The Mail on Sunday. ‘The children had been told by the headmaster Mr Miller and the deputy headmaster Mr Murphy that a real-life Princess was coming to the school. They were so excited and were all told to wait in the car park to see her. When I got there, some of the children were so tired they were sitting on the ground. When she came out of The Art Room after the visit, Mr Miller walked her to her car. She posed for a picture and waved at the children before she was driven off. Some of the little ones were very confused. They were saying things like, “She doesn’t look like a Princess. Where’s her dress?” They didn’t believe it was the Princess they had seen on the television.’

Parents were only informed of the VIP visitor when they received a text from the school, which read: ‘If your child comes home and says they saw Kate Middleton today, it’s true! We had a surprise visit from the DOC to The Art Room.’

One mother, who asked not to be named, said: ‘We all got a text message from the school. All the children waited for her outside in the car park and they got to wave at her. We were told there were nine students in The Art Room who got to meet her. The children said she was very pretty. Some of the older children said she looked skinnier than she did in the photos.’

Mr Murphy, deputy head at Robert Blair – named after a formidable Scot who was London County Council’s chief education officer a century ago – said: ‘It was very exciting for us, but I can’t really talk about it.’

History of Art graduate Kate is said to be keen to work with The Art Room, which is based in Oxford but has its London branch at the Robert Blair primary school.

The charity pledges to ‘increase self-esteem, self-confidence and independence through art’ and works with children aged from five to 16 who are disruptive or withdrawn or have learning difficulties.

A spokesman confirmed Kate had been to visit them, saying: ‘The Duchess of Cambridge paid a private visit to The Art Room in order to find out more about what we do and gain a wider experience of the work within this sector.’

The charity wants funding so that it can provide five-days-a-week support for youngsters at its three Oxford centres and one in London. A spokesman for the Duchess said she has not decided which patronages she will take on but confirmed that The Art Room is one she is interested in working with.

The spokesman added: ‘It was one of a number of meetings, part of the Duchess getting to know the charitable sector. The Art Room wrote to her and caught her eye. She went to find out more about their work.’

[From The Mail]

So it seems like Kate isn’t just spending this time shopping and getting her hair done – she actually is doing some research, although she should work on arriving on time, especially when kids are involved. Good for Kate for actually doing some research… I guess. Whatever. She’s set the bar so low for herself, I can’t believe I’m actually praising her when she makes one trip to a school and she hasn’t even signed on to work with the charity for the long-term.

Photos courtesy of Fame & WENN.