Duchess Kate Makes Surprise Visit To London’s B&A Museum After Reopening
In a surprise outing, Kate Middleton visited the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington this Wednesday. The historic building had just reopened for the first time since December 2020 due to the pandemic. The museum is located very near to Apartment 1A in Kensington, the Cambridge family’s London residence.
While there, Kate saw two new exhibitions: Raphael Cartoons and Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser. The Duchess of Cambridge is actually the first patron of V&A Museum, becoming so back in March 2018, with the Duchess carrying out her first official visit to the museum in her new role later that year when she visited the museum’s photography centre.
The last time she visited the V&A was in 2019 when she attended the 100 Women in Finance Gala Dinner.
Kate went with a red checked Alessandra Rich dress for her surprise visit, accessorizing with a clutch bag and pair of Jennifer Chamandi heels with buckle detailing. She finished off her look with her Asprey Woodland charms on what appeared to be a new gold chain, with the acorn, mushroom and oak leaf paying homage to her family’s coat of arms. Along with the necklace she wore a pair of Twisted Sphere Hoop Earrings from & Other Stories, which you can get for around 20 pounds.
The Duchess seemed to enjoy her tour of the museum’s Raphael Court, home to the Raphael Cartoons, which reopened this Wednesday after a nine-month refurbishment to mark the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death.
There on display are a set of seven full-scale designs for tapestry painted by Raphael, the Cartoons, which were commissioned in 1515 by Pope Leo X for the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel and are now considered to be one of the greatest treasures of the Renaissance.
Kate then moved on to V&A’s new 2021 exhibition, Alice: Curiouser and Curious, which will have its official opening this Saturday. The showcase features over 300 objects spanning film, performance, fashion, art, music and photography related to Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.