The Duchess of Cambridge visited the Victoria and Albert Museum on Thursday (02.12.21) to view the largest collection of Fabergé imperial eggs assembled in a generation.
The Duchess of Cambridge visiting the collection
The Romance and Revolution display is currently being staged at the London venue celebrating the work of Carl Fabergé, the Russian goldsmith and jeweller who created the jewelled eggs between 1885 and 1917. Of his 52 imperial eggs, which were created for the Russian Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers, 46 remain.
The new exhibition showcases more than 200 objects, 15 of which are the famous opulent eggs, several of which are being seen in the UK for the very first time. Three of the eggs have been loaned from the royal collection owned by Queen Elizabeth II - the grandmother of Catherine's husband Prince William - which include the Colonnade Egg, the Basket of Flowers Egg and the Mosaic Egg.
The long lost Third Imperial Egg, that was discovered by a scrap dealer in 2011 after it went missing in 1964, is also part of the collection.
Catherine, 39, attended the display wearing black wide-legged trousers and a patterned pussybow blouse, whilst she also donned a black face mask as the world continues to live with COVID-19.
The royal was accompanied on the nearly one hour tour by V&A director Tristram Hunt and curator Kieran McCarthy.
Speaking after her visit, McCarthy revealed that Catherine - previously known as Kate Middleton - had been "fascinated by the whole subject".
He added: "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."
Revealing the importance of the exhibit, a spokesperson for the V&A said: “This is the largest collection on the public display for more than 25 years. It includes several never before shown in the UK including the largest, the Moscow Kremlin egg, inspired by the architecture of the Dormition Cathedral in Moscow."
Catherine became the first Royal Patron of the V&A in March 2018 and last visited in May 2020 to mark its reopening after the coronavirus pandemic forced public galleries and museums to close for several months.
She attended the 'Alice in Wonderland' inspired exhibition 'Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser'.