Mary Berry defends the Duchess of Cambridge's cooking skills

Mary Berry has defended Kate Middleton after Prince William blamed her cooking skills for him being "so skinny."

The 84-year-old culinary queen witnessed the Duchess of Cambridge\'s talents first hand whilst filming her upcoming BBC festive special \'A Berry Merry Christmas\', and she had high praise for what she saw.

She told The Sun newspaper\'s Bizarre TV column: "Kate is a really good cook."

The royal couple joined Mary for her Christmas programme - which is set to air on December 16 - and Duchess Catherine was able to prove her husband wrong.

The 34-year-old royal previously poked fun at the brunette beauty\'s lack of culinary experience as they chatted away to five Michelin-star chefs at a charity gala, held in honour of the East Anglia\'s Children\'s Hospices (EACH), at Houghton Hall in Norfolk in 2016.

Explaining that William was looking forward to their five-course meal at the dinner, Catherine said: "William has to put up with my cooking most of the time."

But before she had time to finish her sentence, William chimed in: "It\'s the reason I\'m so skinny!"

Now, the former \'Great British Bake Off\' judge had the duo cooking up a storm as they got very competitive in the kitchen.

Mary added: "They are such an enchanting, loving couple. I got them cooking a roulade. They were very competitive and kept looking at each other\'s creations while they were making them."

The BBC One show also sees the trio head to the UK\'s largest homeless shelter, The Passage.

Mary said: "William actually went out and slept on the streets to know what it was all about. They are such a great couple. They were caring, talking and trying to get to the bottom of what was wrong with these people and how they could help."