When Kate Middleton walked down the aisle and into the British Royal Family last year, she lifted the spirits of nation mired in economic gloom.

Now, 19 months after marrying Prince William, the couple has given the country -- and the Commonwealth -- another reason to celebrate.

On Monday, the palace announced that the couple is expecting a baby, though the Duchess of Cambridge had been admitted to hospital with severe morning sickness.

The woman carrying the next in line to the British throne after William is the daughter of self-made millionaires from rural England.

Catherine, 30, grew up in a small village of thatched cottages in Bucklebury, around 45 miles west of London.

One of three children, Catherine completed her schooling as a boarder at the prestigious Marlborough College before taking a degree in History of Art at St. Andrew's University in Fife, Scotland, in 2001. It was there that she met Prince William, then the 19-year-old son of Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, and Princess Diana.

Both were studying art history when they met, but Catherine is said to have played a key role in encouraging the prince to switch to a degree in Geography in his second year. The students grew closer after moving into a shared house with two other friends and were said to have started dating in late 2003.

Their status as a couple was made public in March 2004 when they were photographed holidaying together in the Swiss ski resort of Klosters. Their relationship attracted intense media interest and the following year her lawyers filed their first official complaint about media intrusion.

Such was the level of media interest in the girl "who could be Queen" that in 2007, the Guardian newspaper reported that Catherine "ran the gauntlet of more than 20 press photographers and five television crew as she emerged from her flat."

It was her birthday and rumors had spread that the prince would mark the day with a proposal.