Poor Kate Middleton. She won us all over with her beauty and grace on April 29th when she married Prince William, but in the following months her sister Pippa - and that derrière - has probably accumulated many more column inches than the new Duchess herself.

Kate, or should I say Catherine, was back in the limelight today though but for all the wrong reasons, because of a truly shocking error of judgement, because of (gasp!)......... a spelling mistake.

In a handwritten thank-you letter to Wimbledon, she came undone over the simple use of 'quite' instead of 'quiet'. This is now mainstream news, despite the letter actually being written in relation to the 2008 tournament.

As someone who spends her days writing articles, blog posts and a million and one emails, I truly felt for her. Typos are, without doubt, one of the most excruciating things in the world to the humble PR person. You can spend hours or even WEEKS on a piece of written work or nailing that killer bit of coverage only for there to be an error of some kind that undoes all your good work. To make matters worse, more often than not, it's out of your control.

Whatever the reason, it's hugely frustrating and the Duchess's letter is a perfect example of this. In a world where everyone is terribly busy and important, she took the time to write a letter of thanks. The fact that it was handwritten is also lovely, giving it a truly personal touch when a typed letter probably would have also done the job. What are people picking out though? That's right, a simple mistake.

It just goes to show, when in doubt, proof! Then read it again. Then give it to someone else to read, then read it again yourself, then print it out in a different font, then read each sentence backwards, then - wait for it - read it again. There are all sorts of crazy tricks for proofing but Kate's fate shows that it's well worth it and that there is always time for one final check.

Helen A