Duchess Kate glows on lunch date

While Prince William impresses his hosts thousands of miles away in China, Duchess Kate stepped out Monday for a private lunch at London's posh Goring Hotel, where she spent her last night as single Kate Middleton in 2011.

What's the big deal? Kate goes out often for private events in London, even at more than seven months pregnant.

She looked happy and healthy as usual, putting the kibosh on supermarket tabloid reports, here and in the U.K., that she had been rushed to the hospital recently with severe abdominal pains.

Kensington Palace press spokesmen never comment on such reports. Nor would they comment on the private event today, a lunch to celebrate the Goring's 105th birthday and recent renovation.

But it probably wasn't a coincidence that paparazzi happened to be at the hotel and snapped her wearing a purple floral-print frock by Erdem, with her second pregnancy very obvious.

Meanwhile, the palace has issued advance notice of at least two more engagements on Kate's official schedule next week, including an appearance including Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family at a Commonwealth Day celebration, and a visit to an art gallery.

The Goring, royal fans will remember, was the five-star hotel near Buckingham Palace where Kate and the Middleton family spent the night before her April 29, 2011, wedding to Prince William.

Kate was invited to the lunch to celebrate its reopening after renovation, along with actor Damian Lewis and the royal Coldstream Guards band gathered outside to greet guests.

William, meanwhile, is in China on the second half of his week-long visit to the Far East that started off in Japan. On Monday, he toured the Forbidden City palace complex in Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People.