My Latest Obsession: The Royal Pregnancy

I admit it. I love celebrity gossip. I watch E! while I chop onions for dinner, and I always choose the longest line at the grocery store so that I can catch up on People magazine. In fact, it annoys me when the bagger asks, “Ma’am, paper or plastic?” and I’m engrossed in a story about Suri Cruise’s hooded pink buffer jacket by Monnalisa. Or maybe it’s because the teenage clerk called me “ma’am.”

Anyway, my latest obsession is Kate Middleton. No surprise there. As everyone already knows, the 30-year-old Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant with her first child. If that wasn’t news enough, she was recently hospitalized for extreme morning sickness called Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG), which thanks to the Internet I know more about than I care to. Then the drama started, and I was intrigued by the infamous prank phone call between the Australian radio station and the nurse. Is nothing sacred? Give the pregnant mum a little privacy, please, as she pukes her guts out.

The royal couple isn’t a new fascination of mine. I’ve been stalking William and Kate since they first met in 2002 at St. Andrews University in Scotland where they studied art history. Don’t ask me how or why I know their major. When they broke up five years later, I was devastated because Kate was like a breath of fresh air. I know, I need to get a life. Over the years, I’ve soaked in every photo of the vibrant, active pair as they ski at the Swiss ski resort Klosters, sunbathe in a Caribbean hideaway, trek through the African safari, cheer the Brits at the London Olympics, and compete in all kinds of sports, including hockey, cross-country running, trout fishing, and, of course, anything to do with horses. I don’t know, they seem real to me. William proposed to Kate in October 2010 while they isolated themselves in a log cabin in Kenya, nothing fancy, except for the sapphire-and-diamond engagement ring that belonged to his late mother, Princess Diana, another obsession of mine. I was glued to the television for both of their royal weddings.

The latest picture that makes me smile is of Kate greeting well-wishers as she departs King Edward VII Hospital and clutches bright yellow roses. Now she heads to Kensington Palace for a “period of rest.” With servants at her beck and call, and her family nearby, Kate deserves the royal treatment.

Then again, don’t we all?