Duchess Kate Performs First Official Solo Engagement At The National Portrait Gallery

The Duchess of Cambridge carried out her first official solo engagement tonight, visiting one of her patronages The National Portrait Gallery to view the Lucian Freud Exhibition.

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Lucian Freud is widely considered the best figurative artist of his generation. This exhibition entitled 'The People In My Life' is being described as a fitting farewell to Freud who died last year. Insightful paintings of the people closest to him demonstrate the drama and depth to his work. Featuring over 100 works from museums and private collections throughout the world, the exhibition is being hailed as the event of the year. Officially opening to the public tomorrow, you can book tickets here.

"I've always wanted to create drama in my pictures, which is why I paint people. It's people who have brought drama to pictures from the beginning. The simplest human gestures tell stories".

                                                                                                                                    Lucian Freud

Kate told photographer Mary McCarthy (daughter of Paul McCartney) she has been looking up her work and was hugely impressed by it.  Kate toured the gallery and admired the collection of portraits, As an Art History graduate, Kate will be familiar with Freud's style.

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Kate decided to choose a different designer for this occasion. Wearing a beautiful tweed, grey dress coat with a large shawl collar, designed by Joyce Stewart from Jesiré. Jesiré is a high street label stocked in department stores, but unfortunately this is one Kate piece fans won't be able to get their hands on as Jesiré went into liquidation last year. Kate bought the dress in 2010 for the sale price of £60. Kate was the picture of understated elegance. I love this look and there's something rather 1950s about the silhouette. What do you think?

Kate wore her chic Jimmy Choos Cosmic Suede Pumps. Kate previously wore them to the Millies. They are available for €525 and are described as

"These black suede, almond toed Jimmy Choo's cosmic shoes are five inches high with a one inch platform. Jimmu Choo's black suede pumps provide a chic foundation to any outfit".

Kate accessorised with her black suede clutch and a detailed belt. 

For jewellery Kate chose her Asprey pendant and her diamond bracelet and earrings (With many thanks to My Small Obsessions)

Tonight's engagement is one of many for Kate this year. On June 4th, The Duchess will attend The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert. Artists from every decade of the Queen's reign will perform. Stars Paul McCartney, Tom Jones, JLS, Elton John, Shirley Bassey and Cliff Richard have been confirmed to play at the historic event organised by one of Kate's favourite singers, Gary Barlow. The concert will take place outside the front gates of Buckingham Palace. Now for the really exciting part... 10,000 free tickets will be available via ballot until March 2. For more information on the tickets Click Here.

 A look at the spectacular stage....

Sources (Socialite, Daylife, Twitter, Daily Mail, )

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Kate's Exhibitions Plans, William in the Falklands, Kate's Plans With The Queen, A Peek At Jenny Packham's High Street Collection and More

Hello Kate fans,
Only two days until Kate visits the Lucian Freud Exhibition. Are you all excited to see her? Any style predictions? It's been almost a month since her last royal engagement. I'll post as soon as the first photos emerge and will update as news comes in. While we're waiting for that, there are numerous interesting stories about Kate making the headlines today.


Duchess Kate is one of the most photographed women in the world but is keen to show off her talents from the opposite side of the lens. Photography has been a passion of Kate's for many years. In 2007 Kate curated an exhibition of celebrity portraits by the photographer Alistair Morrison. Morrison described Kate's work as 'very, very good'. A Royal source said

"Photography is a great passion for the Duchess and she continues to pursue it avidly. It is a real release for her and she takes her work very seriously. She has considered staging an exhibition of her works at some point in the future. She would like to continue to develop her work privately before being subjected to that kind of public scrutiny but an exhibition in the next few years is an idea she would be keen on".

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Kate is undeniably one of the most beautiful women of our generation. We spend millions annually trying to emulate her style, hair, make up (even umbrellas...) One lucky girl from Calgary is becoming famous as a 'Kate Middleton look a like'. 26 year old Holly Ferrier was first spotted during the royal tour last summer. Having just competed in an international lookalike contest in Paris and coming second, Holly described the surreal experience as 'a whirlwind, I would love to do it again'. What do you think? See much resemblance to Kate? :)

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We were all very excited to hear about Jenny Packham's collection for Debenhams. A photo has been released of a stunning gown which will feature in the No 1 Jenny Packham collection. Prices will range from £85 to £160 and will launch in April. Very Kate isn't it?

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The Queen's jubilee celebrations and engagements officially begins today. The questions for fans of Kate has been, When will the tour take place? William and Kate will jet off to Malaysia, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands and Singapore in September. I had hoped it would be sooner but nonetheless something to look forward to for the autumn.

Meanwhile The Queen has reportedly been inviting Kate to Buckingham Palace for regular chats to boots her confidence. The Queen is very found of Kate and has taken a keen interest in her development. Although nothing has been confirmed yet, It is being widely reported Kate will accompany Her Majesty on two diamond jubilee engagements next month. 

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We all did a double take when we first saw Kate's wedding dress and it seems the Dean of Westminster was no exception. Speaking about the historic day The Very Rev Dr John Hall said:

"She was so strikingly beautiful and the shape of the dress was so charming. I was quite breath taken and just smiled. It was just one of those 'pinch me' moments, a great privilege."

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On Valentine's Day Kate will pay a special visit to alcohol free bar The Brink. Staff were so delighted about the upcoming visit they created a special alcohol free smoothie called 'The Duchess' in Kate's honour. Made up of banana, honey, almonds and cream it sounds delicious.

Kate's patronage Action on Addiction expressed their excitement about the visit via Twitter.

A number of you have emailed me about a couple of stories which appear to untrue/fabricated/exaggerated. After much research I have found

• Various magazine articles claiming William and Kate have had their first big fight etc is most likely rubbish.
• The numerous articles claiming William's deployment will 'make or break them' are totally unfounded. After ten years it's going to take more than six weeks apart to cause problems.
• Pregnancy rumours and predictions they won't have a child this year impossible to predict, Only William and Kate know that information :)

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Sources (The Telegraph, Ok, People, Daily Mail, Zimbio, What Kate Wore, British Monarchy Flickr, MarkFoster CNN Flickr)

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