Italians praise Catherine as they turn out for final day of trip

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Italians praise Catherine as they turn out for final day of trip17 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleSean CoughlanRoyal correspondent, Reggio EmiliaPA MediaThe Princess of Wales made pasta from scratch on the second day of her Italy tourThe Princess of Wales's trip to Italy has been a reminder of how much the royals need her star quality. The visit to Reggio Emilia had been hailed as significant as her first overseas trip since her cancer diagnosis and treatment. It was her comeback tour, framed by her team as a "huge moment".

But what the trip to Italy soon revealed was how important her glamour and popular appeal is to the Royal Family. She is a splash of movie-star colour and it's her face that the newspapers want to put on their front pages. Italians who waited to see her arrival on Thursday credited her sincerity and empathy as among the reasons they had tried to catch a glimpse of her.

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'Ciao Kate': Crowds cheer Catherine's comeback tour to ItalyIt's hard to pin down that mystery ingredient. But it was enough to draw crowds to see her in this northern Italian city, on what otherwise would have been a low-key fact-finding trip about an early years education project. On Thursday morning, on a dusty side street on the outskirts of Reggio Emilia, in an everyday kind of place, there were crowds lined up behind barriers, awaiting her arrival.

"Principessa, principessa," chanted some of the children in the crowd, as a big black BMW drew up in a convoy of police vehicles. Catherine stepped out, smiling and waving, working her way along a line of greeters, before stepping into an industrial-looking building. She was visiting a project that recycled materials and products to be used in education, as part of her information gathering about Reggio Emilia's approach to teaching young children.

PA MediaCatherine then visited an early years project making use of recycled materialsOutside, under the eye of the carabinieri and a phalanx of photographers, the crowd waited. Some had dressed up in fancy hats and outfits, some held up posters. More barriers were brought out as the crowd grew.

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About an hour later, the princess emerged to even louder applause, waving again, before disappearing off to the next stage of her trip. Well-wishers held out their flowers like jilted lovers. When she had gone on a walkabout in the town square on Wednesday, it had been even more intense, with a crowd of more than a thousand all seeming to want to shake hands and have a selfie with Catherine.

Why did Italians show so much interest in Catherine? PA MediaThe next stop was a primary school in Reggio EmiliaIn the crowd on Thursday, Maria Theresa said she had travelled from Rome to see Catherine. It was the princess's sense of empathy with other people that had made her want to see her in person.

We're people of emotions," she said, adding that she felt the princess was "close to the people".

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.