With the world unable to get enough of the Duchess of Cambridge as the arrival of the royal baby draws closer, one woman knows exactly how she feels.
Kate Middleton lookalike Gabriella Munro-Douglas says she often gets mistaken for the royal and can’t walk around her home town of Windsor without being mobbed by tourists.
Thanks to the uncanny resemblance, the Kingston University graduate has sclaed back her job as a furniture designer and buyer to take on a permanent role as a “Kate-alike”, earning her up to $1650 per appearance.
“It is so much fun being Kate’s look-alike and people are so nice and friendly to me all the time,” she told the UK’s Daily Mail.
She recently replicated one of Kate’s most popular maternity looks in this Topshop black and white polka dot dress, complete with fake foam bump.
Gabriella attracts so much attention that she is regularly asked by police outside Windsor Castle to move on because the crowds block the road.
“Getting mobbed is quite bizarre and is like a snapshot of being a celebrity,” she said.
“In a few minutes I go from being my normal self to putting my dress on and people following me around.
“When they start to crowd around it can be intimidating.”
Gabriella takes her job as a “Kate-alike” very seriously and says she buys all the same outfits and copies Kate’s look exactly. She also says that she feels close to Catherine and takes criticism of the Duchess by friends or in newspaper articles “personally”.
The agency Gabriella works for has 120 Kate look-alikes, but it was she who was recently chosen by photographer Alison Jackson for her latest tongue-in-cheek royal portraits.
“People were saying to me I looked like her and I thought it would be an interesting opportunity and fun,” she said.
“I thought it would last a year after the wedding, but she is becoming more popular, which will continue with the royal baby too.
“Maybe in 20 years I will still be doing it.”
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