Something unusual is happening this year around the Princess of Wales’s birthday. Usually, Kate’s team commissions articles ahead of her birthday, articles in which Kate is lavishly praised, all while sources confirm that Kate will be doing next to nothing in the year ahead. All of that happened last week, ahead of Kate’s 44th birthday. The new, unusual thing is all of the fluff AFTER her birthday. It feels like Kate was irritated that Kensington Palace’s social media didn’t mark her birthday, and that William didn’t send out a misspelled tweet. We heard that Kate huffily “doesn’t feel the need to celebrate birthdays with grand gestures,” which is how she feels about Christmas as well. I said yesterday that the whole thing was giving “Kate bought her own birthday cake and spent the day separately from her husband.” Well, now we’re learning that she went out to lunch with her mother and sister last Friday.

The Princess of Wales reportedly celebrated her 44th birthday by having lunch at a ‘teeny’ Berkshire bistro – with staff praising her ‘charm and grace’. Kate, who grew up in the area, was said to have joined her mother Carole Middleton, 70, and sister Pippa, 42, for a meal at a French cafe in Hungerford.

Proudly taking to social media, The Funghi Club, which offers affordable food – all of which appears to be under £25 as per its a la carte menu – commemorated their ‘rather extraordinary guest’.

‘No photos to share (you’ll understand why), but the entire team on duty reported the same thing: she was utterly charming, gracious and every bit as radiant in person as you’d imagine,’ the Facebook post read.

‘The jungle drums of Hungerford didn’t stop beating until well into Saturday. A little moment of magic for our small bistro – and one we won’t forget in a hurry.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to the Palace for comment. The Funghi Club, which also has locations in Marlborough, where Kate went to school, boasts a ‘relaxed and carefree feeling, with no strict rules between starters, mains, or desserts’. They ‘take pride in offering delicious, seasonal dishes and excellent value for money while providing a delightful dining experience with warm service’.

Dishes at the Hungerford branch, where they say Kate dined, include a £9 onion soup, £10 pork terrine and, if you were wanting to splurge, a £21 beef bourguignon. It is not known if the Princess enjoyed a birthday tipple or not, but as well as offering soft drinks, the cafe had wines and cocktails available. The bistro looks to be a hit with non-royals too, racking up a score of 4.6 stars out of 5 on Google.

[From The Daily Mail]

I don’t think it’s odd or unusual to have a birthday lunch with your mom and your sister. I imagine they had a lovely time and I’m sure Carole had a few drinks too. What I do find unusual is that we’re hearing about it, and that the restaurant was permitted to post about it on their social media. Kate generally moves like a ghost around Berkshire – there are some barely-reported sightings, of course, but it’s rare for a local business to confirm that she visited or ate there. The fact that Kensington Palace didn’t ask The Funghi Club to take down their post is interesting too. Anyway, I wonder what she did for dinner?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.