SHE CAME, she saw and she shifted a lot of cut-price coats. I’m talking of course about the Duchess of Cambridge who made her first visit to the city this week.

It was Valentine’s Day and Kate sure made Liverpool swoon.

Here in the office we held our collective breath as she stepped out of her car and onto the cobbles of Parr Street. Not least because we had an office sweep on what colour she would be wearing.

As it happens no-one had banked on brown. I had expected a romantic colour to match the day – red, claret, maybe a regal purple. But chestnut definitely worked for her. I thought it made her look like a gorgeous Valentine’s chocolate, good enough to eat.

As we all now know the coat was yet another high street steal, a double-breasted knee-length number, this time from mid-marketers Hobbs.

There must have been yelps of joy in their head office when the photographs started to come in and naturally within an hour of Kate’s arrival in our fair city the coat had sold out online – helped no end by the fact the AW11 design had been slashed from £369 to £182.

It certainly was a very nice coat: classy, warm and suitable for standing around outside in February.

But, if I am honest, I found it hard to concentrate on what Kate was wearing because I was struggling to take my eyes off her hair. Again.

And that is why I was not part of the press pack at The Brink and Alder Hey on Tuesday.

Certain colleagues feared that I could not be that close to Kate’s glossy mane and not try to touch it. They are probably right.

Regular readers of this column will know I am prone to hair obsession – Abbey Crouch, Elle Macpherson and Blake Lively are among past fixations.

Happily I have been able to overcome them, although I do sometimes still stare at pictures of Cat Deeley.

Can you blame me though? Has a beachier blonde ever graced the box? I wonder how many hours in the salon it takes to create such a work of art? Is it extensions or all her own work do you think?

Sorry I digress.

The Duchess of Cambridge, is however, something of a departure for me; she is my first brunette hair obsession.

I am also not the only one fixating on Her Royal Swishyness. Women the world over are walking into salons and begging for big bouncy Kate curls.

In New York it is the most requested style – a “Rachel” cut for the 21st century.

But you can hardly blame us for lusting after Kate’s locks. The future Queen’s crowning glory is almost preternaturally perfect.

That said her hairdresser, celebrity favourite Richard Ward – one half of the duo responsible for her wedding “do” – would have us believe the style is actually quite easy to achieve.

‘The ‘Chelsea Blow Dry’ is a free-flowing sophisticated way to wear long hair,” he says.

A cut with Ward, assuming you can get an appointment, could cost you upwards of £200 but he insists we can do it ourselves at home in 45 minutes. All you need is rollers, a hairdryer, a round brush and some serum.

Oh, and 30 years of good breeding.