Strictly Kate (Catherine - The Duchess of Cambridge)

Friday, February 14, 2014

The Duchess of Cambridge Officially Opens The ICAP Art Room at Northolt High School

JustJared

In her second engagement of 2014, the Duchess of Cambridge officially opened The ICAP Art Room at Northolt High School in Ealing, north west London.

Andrew Parsons/i-Images/Daily Mail

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The Art Room is a national charity which offers art as therapy to children and young people aged five to 16 who are facing challenges in their lives. Kate has been Royal Patron of The Art Room charity for two years.

The Art Room FB Page

The Art Room offers support to about 60 students and helps them grow their self-confidence, self-esteem and engagement with education through art. It has proven to reduce children’s emotional and behavioral problems.

PA/Daily Mail

AP/Daily Mail

When the Duchess arrived at the school hall, she was greeted by the school’s 1,000 pupils , and then moved on to the Art Room itself, where she sat with children attending an art therapy session and chatted to each one in turn. She also spent time meeting school teachers, governors and Art Room staff during the visit.

The Art Room FB Page

Northolt’s Art Room was funded with £105,000 raised by the City firm ICAP, which holds a charity day every year at which guests including the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry have in the past stood in as traders to raise money on the phones. The firm donates all of its revenue and commissions made on the day to charity.

PA/Daily Mail

KCK/Daily Mail

L.K. Bennett

Kate looked vibrant in a snorkel blue, L.K. Bennett Detroit Dress (£225). The frock features a unique notch collar detail, cinched waist, and ladylike knee-length hem with a centered back split.

LK Bennett/WKW

As of this writing, the sheath dress is currently available in LK Bennett stores and online at lkbennett.com. It also comes in cream and fuchsia pink.

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James Whatling/Splash News/Daily Mail

The Duchess of Cambridge completed her look with a pair of her trademark black-suede Episode 'Angel' court heels and a simple black clutch bag (still UFO).

Getty/Express

Mappin & Webb

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Cartier

She set off the straight collarbone-skimming neckline with her white gold and diamond 'Fortune Drop Necklace' by Mappin & Webb. Kate also added a new a £5,500 Ballon Bleu Cartier wrist watch to her ensemble.

Additional details from Cartier

Steel case

Fluted crown in steel set with a blue synthetic spinel cabochon

Sapphire crystal

Silvered opaline and ''guilloché'' dial

Roman numerals

Sword-shaped blued-steel hands

Steel bracelet

Water resistant to 30 meters / 100 feet.

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The Duchess added another two pieces of new jewelry to her look. She wore a pair of Kiki McDonough green amethyst and diamond cushion-drop earrings (£1,200).

Reuters/Daily Mail

Kiki McDonough

Kate kept her make-up to a minimum and curled her long chestnut hair.

Reuters/Daily Mail

PA/Daily Mail

Additional Pictures

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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Kate Looks Beautiful in Blue Attending her First Engagement of 2014

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Tonight, Kate carried out her first engagement of 2014. She attended the black tie Portrait Gala joining stars from the world of art and showbiz at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Daniel Deme/WENN.com/Daily Mail

Ben Eade/GoffPhotos.com/Daily Mail

DFS-David Fisher/Rex Features/Daily Mail

Guests attending the event included legendary photographer David Bailey, Olympic Gold medalist Katherine Grainger, transvestite potter Grayson Perry, actor Alan Rickman, actress Liz Hurley, and artist Jonathan Yeo.

PA/Daily Mail

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AP/Alastair Grant/Pool/Metro

Funds raised by the Gala will support the Gallery's work of delivering inspirational exhibitions and displays, offering unique learning opportunities and undertaking world class research.

Jorge Herrera/National Portrait Gallery

Mirror

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Some of the proceeds will go towards the Gallery's Portrait Fund, which allows it to acquire portraits of outstanding national importance for the Collection.

Mirror

National Portrait Gallery

The Duchess was escorted by Sandy Nairne, the director of the National Portrait Gallery to view a display of 200 mystery portrait postcards created anonymously for the gala by a selection of well known artists including Perry, Julian Opie and Alex Katz. The postcards will be sold as part of the fundraising effort.

Jorge Herrera/National Portrait Gallery

Mirror

Jorge Herrera/National Portrait Gallery

After the viewing, Kate gave a short speech to guests before dinner.

Beretta/Sims/REX/Daily Mail

The Duchess of Cambridge, once again, demonstrated her thriftiness by wearing her petrol silk, floor-length Jenny Packham gown ($5,405) for the second time. She first wore the dress last October to the 100 Women in Hedge Funds gala.

Mirror

Around her neck, Kate wore a priceless diamond necklace on loan from the Queen. The necklace is known as 'The Nizam of Hyderabad necklace.' It is still occasionally worn by the Queen today.

Anovabooks.com

CAMERA PRESS/Baron/Daily Mail

The necklace was part of a set gifted to Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding present in 1974 by the very wealthy Nizam. He asked the Queen to choose two pieces from Cartier. She chose a tiara and a necklace based on an English rose.

The Royal Collection

The tiara was subsequently broken up to create other pieces but the necklace remains intact. It consists of a long chain of 38 diamonds (reduced from the original 46) with a diamond-encrusted snap. The center of the necklace is pave-set with detachable double-drop pendant 13 emerald-cut diamonds and a pear-shaped drop.

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Jimmy Choo

Completing her outfit, the Duchess wore her diamond earrings thought to be a gift from Prince Charles and her Jimmy Choo Cosmic pumps.

PA/Daily Mail

Update 2/12/2014

It looks like Kate has a new addition to her jewelry collection. Along with her engagement ring and wedding band there was also a diamond eternity band. No further information on the new ring is available at this time.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Kate Jets Off to Mustique with Prince George and the Middleton's

Hello! Magazine

Last week, Kate swapped Britain's dreary winter weather for a spot of Caribbean sun. She, along with Prince George, boarded a 'scheduled' 777 jumbo jet and travelled 4,500 miles to the island of Mustique. Meanwhile, Prince William opted to stay behind to continue his studies in agriculture at Cambridge University.

Getty

The Duchess and her little prince joined her parents, Michael and Carole and her brother James and sister Pippa at their $30,000 per week private villa. Two royal bodyguards are also traveled with them.

Hello! Magazine

Kate wore her Ralph Lauren Blue Label striped 'Tori' top, her J Brand skinny jeans ($169), her taupe suede plimsolls by Mint Velvet, and her and her Givenchy SGV773 sunglasses (£159). Six month old George was dressed in a light-colored onesie with a blue and white striped hat.

Ralph Lauren

J Brand

Mint Velvet

Givenchy

Update 2/4/2013

Zutano/Amazon.com

For those of you that are interested, a follower on WKW has suggested that Prince George's sun hat is by Zutano ($16.50).

Additional Pictures

Xclusive Pix/Daily Mail

Hello! Magazine

Where did The Middleton's stay on the island of Mustique?

mustique-island.com

The Daily Mail reported that The Middleton's stayed in the Rocina Villa.

mustique-island.com

The four-bedroom Caribbean plantation home was built in 1971 Oliver Messel and Arne Hasselqvist and refurbished in 2009. It sits on the island's western coast, overlooking Endeavor Bay. It features a private 30 ft Pool, comes with an Electric GEM Car and is staffed by a chef, butler, housekeeper, gardener.

mustique-island.com