Kate threads fabric of her family history

SHE'S an international fashion icon and has the rag trade in her blood. So it was no surprise the Princess of Wales was in her element at a textile mill.

- Richard Palmer

AW Hainsworth was an obvious choice for Kate to help showcase and celebrate Britain's textile industry yesterday.

The Leeds firm bought her paternal great-grandfather Noel Middleton's woollen and worsted manufacturing and trading business 65 years ago.

It now makes fabrics for the likes of Burberry and Chanel, and the Buckingham Palace Guards.

Wearing a green Burberry suit, the Princess, 41, grabbed handfuls of freshly-woven merino wool fabric, declaring: "I love the feel of it and the smell of it." She pored over the giant looms and the area where fabric was being dyed red for Buckingham Palace military uniforms.