Kate Middleton, wearing Stella McCartney electric blue silk, comes face to face with herself at National Portrait Gallery

 
1/8
19 July 2012

The Duchess of Cambridge came face to face with her own sporting performance today as she opened an exhibition of images from the 2012 Games at the National Portrait Gallery.

In an electric blue Stella McCartney dress and a gold Cartier Olympic-themed necklace featuring five rings, Kate was amused to see a photo of herself among the exhibits.

The black-and-white image taken by Jillian Edelstein shows a smiling Duchess in a Team GB "hoodie" when she visited the women’s hockey team at the Olympic Park in March.

Kate and Princes William and Harry are to throw themselves into supporting Team GB, visiting training camps and appearing at Olympic events where Britain has a chance of striking gold, including cheering on the princes' cousin Zara Phillips in the equestrian events in Greenwich Park.

As Team GB ambassadors, they will also shine a light on workers behind the scenes, including volunteers, torch bearers and catering staff. They will also link up with future Olympic stars to ensure the long-term sporting legacy of the London Games.

Gallery director Sandy Nairne said: "We know she [the Duchess] loves taking photographs. She was very intrigued about how things got taken and why they got taken. She was on very good form and she was asking lovely questions. I think she was very pleased to see some of the torchbearers. We have only got 10 out of the 8,000."

The Road to 2012: Aiming High exhibition includes new portraits of cycling world champion Mark Cavendish - who hopes to claim Team GB's first gold in the road race on July 28 - Mayor Boris Johnson and sculptor Anish Kapoor, who designed the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower, at the Olympic Park.

More than 100 portraits are included in the free exhibition, which runs until September 23 and is part of the London 2012 Festival. It is the gallery's biggest commission and took three years to complete. Forty of the pictures were being shown for the first time today.

The Duchess, 30, patron of the gallery, met some of the photographers and their subjects, including 100-year-old torchbearer Diana Gould, who says she gets her energy from being a "chocoholic".

Mr Nairne said the exhibition aimed to "try to capture the spirit of brilliance of all those who will be making the Olympic and Paralympic Games".

Retired Paralympic champion Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson said it was a "real privilege" to be asked to pose for a portrait. "As an athlete, I'm used to having my picture taken in competition, usually when it’s windswept and cold," she said.

The Duke and Duchess, with Prince Harry, will be at Buckingham Palace next Thursday when the torch arrives, and on Friday to host foreign heads of state prior to the opening ceremony.

Karen Dacre writes: The Duchess's silk shift dress by Stella McCartney, which showed off her perfectly toned pins, forms part of McCartney's pre-fall collection and is available at Selfridges for £515.

Perhaps signalling that she had at last tired of the nude LK Bennett court shoes which have become her trademark in recent years, Kate teamed the dress with a pair of pointed banana heel court shoes in black suede.

While the Duchess has form in supporting British designers, her decision to wear a creation by Olympic kit designer Stella McCartney just a week days before the games get under way was a sure fire signal that she was ready to get behind Team GB, as is her gold Olympic rings pendant.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in