Royal watching has become so obsessive these days it's hard to tell whether such an activity is the British equivalent of Where's Waldo or an imperial version of UFO sightings. The latest documented reports have been scandalous enough to nearly cause a rampant wave of asphyxiation cases among senior monarchists who choke on a forkful of meat pie when they get their regular royal fixes.

Take Kate Middleton, for instance, who was supposed to have vanished from the public eye back in March before giving birth to her third baby. Previously spotted in Stratford at what was supposed to have been her last royal appearance, Kate hit the royal radar once again in the municipality of Swafham on Anglesey, an island just off the coast of Wales.

That alone wasn't shocking, although it was obvious that the rigors of enduring a third trimester of pregnancy has resulted in the Duchess of Cambridge's baby bump morphing into a baby boulder. What was revelatory to the tabloid tattlers was that Middleton was, of all things, shopping at a Waitrose supermarket!

Yes, shopping! And all that without any help from what might ordinarily be a plethora of royal staff. According to eyewitnesses and an exclusive snapshot by one of the U.K.'s more intrepid lens sharks, it was a sighting to behold, with the Duchess looking resplendent in a tan-colored coat, leaning against a shopping cart with barely an entourage to help load the bags into what turned out not to be a royal carriage, but a SUV.

Yep, a mode of transportation for standard suburbanites was her choice of mobility, a vehicle that was obviously not large enough for an extensive security detail to guard her every move. In fact, only one police protection officer was on hand to be her bodyguard.

As the scrutiny intensified, it turned out that the bags used to hold her groceries were reusable, a relief to some hardcore environmentalists, as her temporary storage items obviously reflected her support for conservation causes. It turns out that the Duchess, before getting hooked up with royalty via marriage to Prince William, used to love shopping on her own. And while sharing some downtime with the prince away from the hustle and bustle of London before the impending royal delivery slated for later this month, Ms. Middle probably realized it may have been her last chance to do something low-key on her own.

Unfortunately, so far, there's no documented evidence of what she bought at Waitrose, but there is some likelihood that the grocery list might eventually show up on Wikileaks.