Kate Middleton wears face mask for visit to London's V&A museum - all the photos

The Duchess of Cambridge sported a face mask as she took a trip to London's Victoria and Albert Museum to view a special new exhibition on Thursday.

Kate viewed Fabergé in London: Romance To Revolution and showed her sophisticated eye for detail, according to the curator.

Wearing black wide-legged trousers and a paisley-print Ralph Lauren blouse - available to buy online here for £139 - the Duchess also adhered to the latest guidelines with her black face mask.

Face coverings became mandatory again in England's shops and on public transport this week, in a tightening of measures amid the emergence of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

The Government advises that, while other indoor settings might not have a legal requirement for face coverings, people should still wear one in crowded and enclosed spaces where they might come into contact with other people they do not normally meet.

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During her latest trip to the museum, the Duchess praised those behind the display, which features the largest collection of Faberge’s well-known Imperial Easter Eggs in a generation, several of which are being shown in the UK for the first time.

The collection also includes three items lent by the Queen, including the Colonnade Egg, Basket of Flowers Egg and the Mosaic Egg. 

Kate was accompanied on her tour of the exhibition by V&A director Tristram Hunt and shown around by curator Kieran McCarthy.

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Speaking after the visit, Mr McCarthy said Kate had been "fascinated by the whole subject".

The royal mother-of-three, who is known to be a keen photographer, showed her clear eye for detail, he added.

"That came through over and over again, just 'How did they do that? Why does that look like that?'

"There was a lot of why and wherefore in the discussion, which was very interesting because it takes a sophistication to look beyond seeing the spectacle to actually probe into the details, and that was there."

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Items in the exhibition include the long lost Third Imperial Egg, discovered by a scrap dealer in 2011 after it  went missing in 1964, the largest Imperial Egg - the Moscow Kremlin Egg -inspired by the architecture of the Dormition Cathedral in Moscow and featuring a music box that plays Tsar Nicholas II's favourite hymn, and the Alexander Palace Egg, which contains a model of the  palace inside.  

Kate became the first royal patron of the V&A in March 2018 and last visited in May to view the Alice:Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition.