PRIZE-winning novelist Hilary Mantel, who studied law at The University of Sheffield in the 1970s, has been criticised for her scathing attack on the Duchess of Cambridge as a ‘shop-window mannequin’ with no personality, whose only purpose is to breed.
The 60-year-old Derbyshire-born writer, who has twice won the Man Booker Prize, said Prince William’s wife Kate appears to have been ‘gloss-varnished’.
She said her ‘perfect plastic smile’ was in direct contrast to the demeanour of Princess Diana, who she described as awkward and emotionally incontinent. She suggested ‘painfully thin’ Kate was selected for her role of princess because she posed no risk of showing any character.
But the Duchess was defended by charity chief executive Nick Barton, who heads Action on Addiction, of which Kate is patron.
He said Catherine is ‘somebody who wants to help, is helpful and genuinely interested and is intelligent’.
“I’ve met her several times and I found her to be engaging, very natural, and interested in the subject,” he said.
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