The Princess of Wales is renowned for her love of photography and the arts, and at her latest royal engagement, Kate was in her element.
The royal, 43, paid a visit to the new V&A East Storehouse in Stratford, East London on Tuesday, in her first public outing since her half-term break.
Kate learned about the site's "order an object" system where paintings, furniture, books and sculptures can be requested and a room set aside for viewing with staff.
"The Princess is really passionate about the objects, whether it was the photography collection, or whether it was the two woven silks by William Morris, the Pre-Raphaelite paintings," V&A Director Dr Tristram Hunt tells HELLO!
© Kensington Palace"She has a real passion for the V&A collections and then a lot of knowledge around making and the processes of making, she was really keen on. And then she just loved that idea of getting behind the scenes of the museum, allowing the public access to those areas people don't normally get to see."
During her two-hour tour, Kate marvelled at the largest Picasso artwork in the world, a 19th century riding habit and a black and gold coat dress by British fashion designer, Alexander McQueen.
© Andrew Parsons / Kensington PalaceBehind-the-scenes
For the private part of the visit, she also chose a number of items to look at more closely.
"She was interested in some of the works by William Morris, the product book by William Morris, some of the musical instruments and photography, a lot of the photography collections," Tristram tells HELLO!
"She was also interested in some of the 18th-century needlework boxes. That's the thing about the V&A, it's an extraordinary, full range of it."
© Andrew Parsons / Kensington PalacePhotographer Sarah Duncan talked Kate through the process of taking an image of ballet shoes worn by Alicia Markova, when she danced the lead role in the 1934 production of Giselle, and was told "you want scratches to shine" as the image would document the item.
"It was so technical, but she asked questions around – what type of camera, what processes and how you do this," Tristram says of the royal.
"It was different to her normal approach [of taking portraits] because it's almost like product photography, but she was really, really interested, in how it took place."
© Andrew Parsons / Kensington PalaceThe mother-of-three became the V&A's first royal patron in 2018, formally opening its photography centre in South Kensington that year. She also opened the revamped Young V&A in Bethnal Green in 2023.
"She's been behind-the-scenes with the photography team a great deal, so she mixes both the public elements, but also getting involved with the collections and the feel of it. We're very grateful to see her when we can," Tristram adds.
© GettyThe V&A East Storehouse has more than half a million artefacts including 350,000 library books, 250,000 objects and thousands of letters, posters and flyers - including the Glastonbury Festival archives.
It also contains some dresses which belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth II, Keith Moon's drum kit, shoes designed by Zahra Hadid and a petal from the London 2012 opening ceremony cauldron.
Since opening last month, Tristram reveals there were around 20,000 visitors in its first week, with the V&A East Museum set to open in Stratford's East Bank next spring.
