Juggling a full-time job with being a hands-on parent isn’t easy for any of us. Meetings, work calls, drop-offs, pick-ups… the to-do list is endless, and that’s when everything goes without a hitch.

Spare a thought, then, for the Princess of Wales, who is rising up the ranks as a senior royal, while simultaneously trying to raise three children under ten.

How does she do it? Well, aside from a rota of assistants and Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, her devoted Norland nanny, behind the scenes, it’s all down to careful planning, especially in terms of timing and location.

In the past eight weeks, almost every single one of Kate’s engagements has been within a 30-mile radius of her home — Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, Berkshire. The family moved there from Norfolk in September last year.

What’s more, they have all taken place between the hours of 9am and 4pm, meaning she can be around both before and after school (all three children attend Lambrook prep school, near Ascot) and never miss her children’s bedtime.

Ingrid Seward, royal biographer and editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, says this clever timetabling is an example of Kate’s ‘extremely logical mind’.

‘Any mum will be wondering how on earth she does it,’ Ingrid adds. ‘From the very start, Kate has been organised and disciplined. She gets up very early in the morning, and she is able to have a say on which engagements she will and won’t do, and discuss in advance which days she wants to work.

‘It’s extraordinary — somehow she also manages to fit in working out, getting her hair and make-up done, and still being there for the children. But don’t forget she can delegate, and she has a lot of help, which most women don’t.’

Kate rarely appears at a royal event on a Monday or a Friday, although she does seem happy to work weekends, when she’s free of the school run.

Tuesdays to Thursdays, by contrast, are her busiest days when it comes to engagements — and the ones on which she’s willing to travel farthest from home.

Conveniently, the Princess has taken to hosting private meetings at Windsor Castle, a ten-minute walk from Adelaide Cottage.

Several of her public engagements have been extremely close by: earlier this month, she visited Maidenhead Rugby Football Club, just 6.2 miles away.

And in May she and William took part in the Big Help Out scheme at a Scout hut in Slough, a 20-minute (8.4-mile) round trip.

She has only been abroad for work once this year, to attend the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein with William in Amman, Jordan, and has taken just three trips outside the 30-mile radius of her home (to Bath, Southampton and Nuneaton) since the start of last month.

Her focus has shifted, too, to daytime openings, meetings and walkabouts: far more school-friendly than the glitzy dinners, galas and premieres she and William used to frequent. 

And the working window is likely to get narrower still as the school holidays approach, with the Princess’s official diary currently showing nothing at all for July and August.

So just how does the royal juggle work in practice? Sarah Rainey looks into the careful calculations behind School Gate Kate’s busy week . . .