Why The Media Is Kate Middleton's New Mother-In-Law

With the announcement of her engagement to Prince William, Kate Middleton may not be gaining a mother-in-law but she certainly won't be lacking an interfering, meddling presence in her life: it's called The Media.

From day one of their seven-year courtship, media outlets of every persuasion have gushed, criticised, worried and gushed some more over the coupling of Babykins and Big Willie (their alleged pet names).

Her early, skimpy turn on the university fashion show catwalk was met with raised editorial eyebrows. When Wills got his wings with his live-in girlfriend by his side, the tabloids were like a middle-aged women bragging over Tim Tams. Pages glossy and online scrutinised Kate's every move like a never-pleased mother: the outfits (too conservative or too slutty, take your pick), the career (or lack thereof), the bikini body (looking a bit thin, isn't she?) the break-up behaviour (all those public displays of upper-class clubbing will show him).

And, of course, the waiting-for-the-ring game. While, in her first interview today, Kate admitted to having "those conversations" about marriage, they must have been tame compared to the intense speculation from the media for the last seven years. Like a nervous mother-in-law, wedding dresses have been imagined, arguments envisaged, and reasons-he-hasn't-proposed considered.

Now, with their engagement announcement trumpeted around the world, the young couple are in for the full treatment. Sky News, who scored the first interview, pounced on the pair's family plans like a bootie-knitting nanna, while Kate and William squirmed as if sitting through an awkward family dinner.

Sometimes critical, often effusive, but always, always there, the media is set to be the mother-in-law Kate wishes she never had.