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Kate shows off royal baby bump in Canadian designer dress

Paul Ellis/Reuters

The duchess of Cambridge chose to wear a knee-length (and non-maternity) silk dress by Canadian designer Erdem on Tuesday morning when she visited Willows Primary School in Manchester, UK. (It’s not the first time Kate’s worn Erdem over the years: her first outfit stepping off the plane into Ottawa during her 2011 Canadian visit was an Erdem creation as was this grey floral number at last year’s Trooping the Colour event.)

And the clinging floral dress, which retails for nearly $1,900, provides–finallywhat some are saying is the first real glimpse of the royal baby bump.

Hundreds of children waved the national flag of England on St. George’s Day as the duchess greeted them outside of the school. “She was presented with a hamper of special treats for her dog Lupo,” reports the official website of the duke and duchess of Cambridge. “It was a gift from ‘school dog’ Henry, headteacher Anne Whitehead’s Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.”

Inside, she delivered a short speech announcing a new school counselling program called M-PACT–a partnership between the Duchess’s own Royal Foundation (which she co-chairs with Prince William and Prince Harry), Comic Relief, Place2Be and Action on Addiction.

The duchess was not only presented with a willow tree for her garden at Kensington Palace but also a book written by some of the children called, What Do Princesses Do?

According to the Daily Mail, Kate read aloud a few excerpts from the book: “Eat bananas? Yes I certainly do that. Dancing, yes that too. Eat sweets. Yes I like all those!”

The visit to the school yard is on the heels of a Sunday stop with the Queen’s Scouts at Windsor castle where the six-month pregnant duchess wore a coat, concealing the finer details of the bump.

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