Getting better: The Duchess of Cambridge (pictured last month) will tonight attend the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards
The Duchess of Cambridge will tonight attend the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards - the first sign that she is slowly recovering from the acute sickness that has plagued her first few weeks of pregnancy.
She is only likely to be at the event in London for around 45 minutes but sources have told Mail Online she is keen to pay tribute to the nation's sportsmen and women in what has been an incredible year.
Sources say the Duchess will be going on her own as husband Prince William is back at work as an RAF search and rescue pilot on Anglesey.
A St James's Palace spokesman said: 'The Duchess of Cambridge will tonight attend the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year Awards at the ExCeL London, where Her Royal Highness will present the Lifetime Achievement and the main Sports Personality of the Year Awards.
'The Duchess will attend the event in response to a longstanding invitation from the BBC.'
Along with her husband and brother in law Prince Harry, Kate was a Team GB Ambassador at the Olympics this summer.
The hockey player is known to love sport and was pictured at London 2012, hugging Prince William at the Velodrome in August as Sir Chris Hoy, Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny stormed to success.
Couple: Prince William is pictured next to his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, as she leaves the King Edward VII hospital in central London, earlier this month
Tonight will be the first time the Duchess has been seen in public since she left hospital.
Reports had suggested she could miss Christmas at Sandringham and instead choose to spend the festive period with her own family in a bid to recover.
Kate's prolonged vomiting could continue for much of her pregnancy and she may need to take anti-sickness medication for months to come.
She was regularly visited by William and younger siblings Pippa and James Middleton during her stay in hospital.
All smiles: Prince William leaves the King Edward VII Hospital with the Duchess of Cambridge earlier this month
A royal source told Mail Online: 'While the Duchess does not feel ready to attend a four hour engagement, she is keen to show her support to the UK's sportsmen and women at this prestigious event which caps a momentous year for British sport.'
'While the Duchess does not feel ready to attend a four hour engagement, she is keen to show her support to the UK's sportsmen and women at this prestigious event which caps a momentous year for British sport'
Royal source
Earlier this month, Kate looked tired and pale but still managed a broad grin as she left hospital following treatment for her acute morning sickness and said to wellwishers: ‘I’m feeling much better, thank you.’
Grandfather-to-be Prince Charles was equally delighted as he spoke about his son’s happy news.
‘I’m thrilled, marvellous. A very nice thought of grandfatherhood at my old age, if I may say so. So that’s splendid. And I’m very glad my daughter-in-law is getting better, thank goodness,’ he said.
The Duchess has been resting at Nottingham Cottage, the London home she shares with Prince William in the grounds of Kensington Palace.
Sports fans: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge hugged in August at London 2012 as Team GB won gold
Kate, 30, who is around nine weeks pregnant, has been told by doctors to rest and, as a result, had cancelled all her upcoming engagements.
She was taken to hospital earlier this month by her concerned husband after falling ill at her parents’ house in Bucklebury, Berkshire.
Doctors at King Edward VII Hospital in London diagnosed her with hyperemesis gravidarum, an acute form of morning sickness that causes the patient to vomit uncontrollably and become dehydrated.
She was immediately put on a drip to introduce fluids and nutrients into her body and spent three nights in hospital.
Joining in: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge take part in a Mexican wave at Wimbledon while watching Andy Murray in the men's tennis at London 2012 in August
Her devoted husband, also 30, who was given compassionate leave from the RAF, was by her side each day.
The couple had not planned to make the pregnancy public until Christmas but felt they had no option due to her sickness.
Meanwhile, Britain's top sports stars were preparing to gather at London's ExCel Centre to celebrate a year of sporting achievement hailed as the greatest ever.
Bookmakers revealed a late flurry of bets on Jessica Ennis being crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Odds on the Olympic heptathlon champion taking the award have fallen from 9/1 to 4/1 in the last 48 hours, betting company William Hill said.
British heroes: Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis (left) is now firmly second favourite behind cyclist Bradley Wiggins (right) to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award tonight
She is now firmly second favourite behind cyclist Bradley Wiggins, who is odds-on to win after his historic triumph in the Tour de France and gold in the Olympics time trial.
Mo Farah, double gold medallist in the 5,000 metres and 10,000m, is ranked third favourite with the bookies, just ahead of Andy Murray, who became the first British man to win a grand slam singles title for 76 years when he triumphed in the US Open and won an Olympic gold.
Meanwhile, the loving family of Kate’s nurse found dead after being duped by a hoax call today arrived in India for her funeral hours after an emotional mass at Westminster Cathedral.
Mother-of-two Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was found hanging in her nurses' quarters at King Edward VII Hospital in Marylebone, central London, by a colleague and a security guard nine days ago.
Three days earlier the nurse had transferred a call from two Australian DJs, believing they were the Queen and Prince of Wales, to a colleague who described pregnant Kate’s condition in detail.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2248982/Kate-Middleton-pregnant-Duchess-Cambridge-present-Sports-Personality-Year-award-tonight.html#ixzz2FEk3CMxK
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