Beijing - It is inevitable - princess-to-be Kate Middleton will be compared to Diana - but the woman from a modest background has several advantages that will help her prepare for her new life as a royal.
She's a country girl who loves the late-night club scene. A reluctant fashion icon who says she doesn't fuss over her clothes - but looks stunning in just about anything.
Kate Middleton has kept her thoughts to herself and a circle of trusted friends during her long romance with Prince William.
Until she spoke out about her love for the prince and her admiration for his mother, the late Princess Diana, on the day their engagement was announced, Middleton had kept totally mum about her relationship and her thoughts about joining "The Firm," as the royal family is popularly known.
So who is the future queen, and what matters to her?
Only her closest friends know if she has hoped for years to marry William - some schoolmates have pointed out that she went out of her way to catch his eye in their freshmen year at college - or if she was content in her role as the on-again, off-again girlfriend of one of the most eligible men in the world.
In the absence of words there have been images. Kate glamorous in evening wear, Kate lounging on a yacht in a white bikini and - most surprisingly - Kate in a sheer dress at a charity fashion show in early 2002, when she and the prince were just friends. That event prompted William, according to biographer Katie Nicholl, to tell a friend that "Kate's hot". - BuaNews-Xinhua
