Sarah Burton’s army of 100 guarded Kate’s fairytale dress secret

It really was a mammoth task to keep her wedding dress a secret, but the new Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, managed it with royal excellence and with some help, of course.

Alexander McQueen designer Sarah Burton had a small army of about 100 who not only carried out painstakingly detailed work on the dress round the clock, but also had to be extremely discreet about it.

In addition to her own team, Burton worked with graduates, students, tutors and past and current staff at the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace.

According to a palace statement, "The workers washed their hands every 30 minutes to keep the lace and threads pristine, and the needles were renewed every three hours to keep them sharp and clean."

"The secret nearly came out when Sarah Burton was spotted at the Goring Hotel [where Kate spent her last night before the wedding]," the New York Post quoted a source as saying.

"But it didn't even slightly affect the impact of when Kate stepped out of her car at the Abbey," the source added.