By Rebecca English, Royal Correspondent


The Duchess opted for a grey tweed coat dress by High Street label Jesire stores - which had a large shawl collar and a black belt around her trim waist for her first solo engagement since joining the royal family


The Duchess of Cambridge looked buoyed and confident as she embarked on her first solo engagement since joining the royal family.

Kate was attending a private viewing of a new exhibition of portraits by the late Lucian Freud at the National Portrait Gallery in London, of which she recently became royal patron.

If she was nervous at striking out on her own at long last she didn't show it.

Best foot forward: The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at the at the National Portrait Gallery in London

Arriving at the gallery she mingled with arty types including photographer Mary McCartney, Bella Freud, the artist's daughter, and Jefferson Hack.

The Duchess wore a grey tweed coat dress by High Street label Jesire - stocked by many department stores - which had a large shawl collar and a black belt around her trim waist. Dresses within the Jesire range retail for around £150.

She completed the outfit with a chunky diamond bracelet and vertiginous heels.

Her hair looked gleaming thanks to a four hour session in top London salon Richard Ward on Monday.

Although she attended a private fundraising dinner on behalf of Prince Charles last year, last night’s visit to the hugely-anticipated exhibition was the first time she has appeared in public without her husband, Prince William, by her side.


The Duchess' hair looked gleaming thanks to a four hour session in top London salon Richard Ward


The Duchess of Cambridge shakes hands with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt during her gallery visit

Star style: The Duchess completed her outfit with a chunky diamond bracelet and vertiginous heels

The 30-year-old duchess is taking advantage of the prince’s controversial six week deployment to the Falkland Islands in order to make her mark as a working member of the Royal Family.

Despite being married for almost ten months, Kate has declined to carry out any engagements on her own, preferring to learn the ropes at William’s side.

However she now believes she is ready to put what she has learnt into practice and aides agree that the future king’s absence is a good opportunity.

‘She is raring to go,’ said an aide.

As well as last night’s low-key visit to the NPG she will also undertake a high-profile ‘away day’ in Liverpool on Valentine’s Day next week.

Kate will visit The Brink, an alcohol-free bar linked to Action on Addiction, of which she became patron of last month, as well as the world-famous Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

Yesterday, however, it was very much about the Duchess’s personal passion – she studied history of art at St Andrew’s University, where she met Prince William, coming away with an eminently respectable 2:1.

The prince initially enrolled on the same degree but switched after his first year to study geography.

With more than 100 paintings and works on paper loaned from museums and private collections throughout the world, Lucian Freud Portraits is the result of many years planning by the gallery in close partnership with the late artist himself. Freud died in July 2011 at the age of 88.

It features many of his most important portraits from the 1940’s right through to his last, unfinished work.

Sitters represented in the exhibition include family members, particularly his mother Lucie, and artists such as Francis Bacon and David Hockney.

The exhibition also includes his famous 1995 nude portrait of Sue Tilley ‘Benefits Supervisor’, which sold in 2008 for a record-breaking £17.2m - making it the most valuable painting ever to be sold by a living artist.


The Duchess met arty types including (from left) Jefferson Hack, Bella Freud and Mary McCartney


The Duchess shakes hands with Bella Freud as she is shown around the exhibition

Freud's portrait of the Queen remains one of the most unusual and controversial depictions of the British monarch (left) a painting, entitled 'Self Portrait, Reflection' (right)

Regarded as one of the most important painters of modern times, Freud was known for his intensely realist portraits, particularly of nudes.

Born in Berlin, he was the grandson of Sigmund Freud, the leading pioneer of modern psychoanalysis, but moved to London when the Nazis rose to power.

He became a naturalised British subject and spent almost his entire working life based in London, where the twice-married painter surrounded himself by beautiful younger women, including the model Kate Moss, who also posed for him.

Freud remained totally dedicated to his work, painting long hours every day well into his late 80s in a sustained bid to complete his life's work before death overtook him.

Among his most famous subjects was Queen Elizabeth II, who posed after extensive negotiations between the palace and the painter.

The colourful portrait, which the artist donated to the queen's collection, remains one of the most unusual and controversial depictions of the British monarch but is not featured in the current exhibition.

The Duchess told photographer Mary McCartney that she had been looking up her work on her website and she was 'hugely impressed' by it.

'It made me blush but I was incredibly flattered. It is refreshing having her here.

It is so exciting that she has become involved, ' the photographer said.

She was shown round the exhibition by the director of the gallery, Sandy Nairne, looking at a small section of self portraits, a painting of Freud's first wife, Kitty, and dwelled for a moment on 'Pregnant Girl', an oil on canvas from 1961.

Although his portrait of the Queen is not displayed there is a photograph of him painting the monarch.

His portrait of Andrew Parker Bowles, ex husband of the Duchess of Cornwall, is also on display.


Impressive: Three of the paintings Kate saw as she was shown around by gallery director Sandy Nairne


The Freud exhibition features some of the late artist's most impressive works, dating from 1940 to the piece he was working on when he passed away



source:dailymail