Clearly she was supposed to keep shtoom, but with the entire world clamouring to know any scrap of juicy gossip, royal wedding dress designer Sarah Burton has started to give away a few choice details about working with the new Duchess of Cambridge.
Guests at an event at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York last Tuesday were told not to ask questions about "that dress", but the Alexander McQueen creative director found it hard to ignore questions from intrigued shoppers. "She said the princess was one of the most lovely women she had ever met and was really low maintenance," said a customer, Norah Lawlor.
Burton also reportedly revealed that the design of the dress was a 50/50 collaboration with Kate Middleton, adding that "it was made for her and has a lot of her personality in it", strengthening the theory that Middleton plundered pictures of Grace Kelly's wedding gown to present to Burton.
Media sources in New York relished another Burton statement: that both Middleton sisters, Kate and Philippa, are "really nice and down to earth" – something US-based blogs claimed was obvious because the bride opted for a tiny tiara and earrings given to her by her parents rather than turning to the crown jewels.
Celebrity magazine Us Weekly also reported that the lacemakers were duped into believing their work was for a dress for a British period costume drama, while Burton's seamstresses were also apparently told they were doing a dress for a film.
Despite months of secrecy and a confidentiality agreement with the palace, it was Burton's appearance at the Goring Hotel on the eve of the wedding, wearing an Alexander McQueen-designed fur trapper hat, that finally revealed her identity as the dress's designer. She admitted: "The most fun I had was trying to hide … we laughed a lot about that."