London - They still have another five months to go before the endless rounds of nappies and night feeds begins.
But the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are determined to enjoy their last bit of ‘me’ time – and have jetted off to the Caribbean for an early ‘babymoon’ break.
Accompanied by a team of bodyguards, the parents-to-be are currently lapping up some winter sunshine in a £19,000-a-week luxury villa on the island of Mustique.
Kate’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, also flew out with them but have rented a property nearby to give the pair some privacy.
Nowadays many couples decide to take a short holiday together before the birth of their baby – dubbed a babymoon – in order to enjoy some quiet time away together before the big day.
But few will be able to afford the kind of splendour being enjoyed by the future king and his wife, who are expecting their first son or daughter in July.
Mustique is a private island where Princess Margaret once had a holiday home and is frequented by stars, including Mick Jagger.
The Mail understands William and Kate are staying at a £5million, five-bedroom mansion – one of the most opulent on the island – that comes with six members of staff to tend to their every whim.
Each of the en-suite bedrooms has a dressing room, private verandah with views of the ocean and canopied, four poster beds.
It has a panoramic living area adorned with antiques, its own 64ft swimming pool and is surrounded by stunning tropical gardens featuring a lily pond and a gazebo. The villa also has its own media and games room.
Should the couple fancy something a little more energetic, the island boasts its own equestrian centre and tennis club which can be followed by a ‘chakra balancing’ massage for £150 in its upmarket spa.
The Duchess may well be tempted by a balancing massage after suffering from a form of acute pregnancy-related sickness which saw her hospitalised for four days before Christmas .
‘Their villa is the height of luxury,’ said a source.
News of the couple’s trip came as St James’s Palace announced details of Kate’s first public engagement this year.
She will visit an Action on Addiction centre in South London on February 19. Kate, who is patron of the charity, will meet clients and staff at Hope House, a 23-bed residential treatment centre.
The Action on Addiction programme offers a place for women to recover from substance dependence and receive additional support for other compulsive disorders.
Famed for its palm-fringed beaches and upmarket watering holes, Mustique is one of the most exclusive holiday destinations in the world.
The tiny Caribbean island was made famous in the 1960s when its owner, Lord Glenconner, gave the Queen’s late sister, Princess Margaret, a ten acre plot of land as a wedding present.
Glenconner bought the island, which had been left to wrack and ruin following the decline of the great sugar plantations in the 19th Century, for £45,000 in 1958. In the early days, life on the island was simple: with little fresh water and dusty tracks for roads.
But the eccentric Scottish noble struck on the idea of parcelling up and selling off small pockets of land to carefully vetted buyers.
Princess Margaret commissioned theatrical designer, Oliver Messel, to build her a villa, Les Jolies Eaux. She adored Mustique because it was somewhere she could let her hair down away from prying eyes and public scrutiny.
Visitors included her cousin Lord Lichfield, who had a villa nearby, gangster John Bindon – with whom Princess Margaret is rumoured to have had an affair – and Mick Jagger.
It was here, too, that she conducted her affair with Roddy Llewellyn, a landscape gardener 17 years her junior.
Princess Margaret gave Les Jolies Eaux to her son, Lord Linley, when he married in 1998, but, much to her distress, he quickly sold it.
Wealthy holidaymakers are attracted by the island’s balmy climate and beautiful beaches. There is no ‘out of season’ as Mustique is far enough south to avoid hurricanes and enjoys temperatures of around 75F to 80F all year round.
It is also one of the safest places in the Caribbean. The only murder in Mustique’s recent history occurred ten years ago when a French heiress was found stabbed to death in her villa – a crime that has never been solved. - Daily Mail