In her first appearance since her now infamous hospital visit, where a prank call spiralled into tragic consequences, Kate Middleton attended another British institution: the BBC’s Sports Personality of The Year awards.

She appeared on stage to present the prize to this year’s winner: Bradley Wiggins – the British cyclist that broke into the realms of fame on this Summer’s 2012 Olympic games. Jessica Ennis, who enjoyed a similar fate, came second, while Scottish tennis star, who failed at Wimbledon, but prevailed with a gold medal, beating Roger Federer in the Olympic final, came third. Lord Coe, the chairman of London 2012 organisers Locog, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Duchess. Earlier the BBC's royal correspondent Peter Hunt tweeted: "Kate, according to her office, is keen to show her support to UK sportsmen and women at 'this prestigious event which caps a momentous year'."

Picking up his award, Wiggins said, “I’m not going to swear tonight so I’m just going to say, ‘Thank you very much for the people who picked the phone up and voted. We’ve had all that jungle stuff and the X Factor the last couple of weeks so for people in half an hour to pick up and pay £1.50 to vote thank you very much. And, my nan - the cheque’s in the post because you pushed redial god knows how many times.”