Elegant Kate goes for dove grey and a new side-chignon up-do as she steps out solo for cocktail reception
- The Duchess of Cambridge wore a dress by Serbian-born, London-based designer Roksanda Ilincic
- The event at he Royal Academy of Arts in London, was to support the British Government’s GREAT Campaign
- Kate was greeted on arrival by Prime Minister David Cameron
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The Duchess of Cambridge was flying the flag last night at a glitzy cocktail bash to promote the best of Britain.
Elegant Kate, who was without her husband, Prince William, was attending a Creative Industries reception at the Royal Academy of Arts in London’s Piccadilly to support the Government’s GREAT Campaign.
Wearing a dove grey dress by designer Roksanda Ilincic, Serbian born but a graduate of Central St Martin's, the Duchess swept down the red carpet prompting a battery of camera flashes.
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Polished: The Duchess of Cambridge wore an elegant pale grey dress, and a sleek chignon up-do for a Creative Industries reception at the Royal Academy of Arts this evening
She first sported the designer outfit, which has an unusual slashed neckline, when she arrived in LA last year on her inaugural royal tour.
She was greeted by the Prime Minister David Cameron, the first time the two have apparently been photographed together.
The Duchess completed her outfit with a pair of the palest pale grey suede heels, tan tights and hooped Kiki McDonough earrings.
Unusually she wore her hair swept back in an elegant chignon showing off her new earrings, which she also wore to the Olympic Games opening ceremony on Friday, to their best advantage.
New look: Kate wore her hair up in an elegant side-chignon, showing off her Kiki McDonough earrings
Opening the event, the Prime Minister David Cameron made a short speech and revealed a fascinating conversation he enjoyed with Prince William at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games with Prince William.
Turning to the Duchess, he said: 'My favourite part of the opening ceremony was when your husband leant over and said to me 'I don't know if you know, Prime Minister, but my grandmother is a great fan of Dizzee Rascal.'
The comment prompted howls of laughter, not least from the Duchess.
Guest of honour: Kate was greeted on arrival at the Royal Academy of Arts by Prime Minister David Cameron and RAA President, Christopher le Brun
Going solo: The Duchess, who attended the event without her husband, Prince William, walked the red carpet with Mr Cameron and Mr le Brun
Aides said they were confident that the prince made the quip - but less sure as to whether it was true.
Dizzee Rascal is a London-born rapper famed for his high voltage hits such as Bonkers and while the Queen is known to have diverse tastes, it would certainly be an unusual choice for her iPod.
The star-studded bash was thrown by The Founders Forum to celebrate UK culture, creativity, art and entertainment on the back of the GREAT initiative, which is itself designed to showcase Britain’s capabilities and to promote our economic potential abroad on the back of both the Diamond Jubilee and Olympic Games.
Holding their own: Holly Valance, with fiancé Nick Candy (left), looked stunning in a black leather shift, while Fearne Cotton (right) went for an elegant white-and-cream look with turquoise platforms
Raising the style stakes: Fashion designer Stella McCartney (left) and supermodel Lily Cole (right) both represented their industry in bold primary hues
Some 800 people, including representatives of the UK’s leading creative companies, industry figureheads, as well as guests from overseas businesses and organisations interested in investing in or buying creative services from the UK, attended the event.
Among them were a host of famous names including model Lily Cole, Fearne Cotton, Sir Terence Conran and Roger Daltry.
Several of the cast of Downton Abbey, dancer Arlene Phillips and singer Lulu also joined the crowd.
Star turns: Artist Tracey Emin (left) and singer Lulu (right) were also among the evening's attendees
Dapper: Radio host Nick Grimshaw and fashion designer Henry Holland were also present at the RA last night
Miss Phillips said: 'We have so much to be proud of in this country, so much to offer. We have the best arts, best dance, best music, I just want to shout it from the rooftops.
Repeat performance: Kate has worn the dress once before, when she arrived in Los Angeles on her tour of North America in July last year
'And what I really want is to see Kate and William dancing. We all know that Harry has got the moves, he has showed us those! Those hips don't lie! But I would love to see William and Kate take a spin round together.'
As well as the Prime Minister there were speeches from Christopher Le Brun, President of The Royal Academy, and Jonathan Goodwin, co-founder of The Founders Forum and founder of Lepe Partners.
The Founders Forum was set up by Goodwin and Brent Hoberman of lastminute.com as a community for the best global entrepreneurs in the areas of media and technology.
The organisation brings together more than 1,000 of the world’s most dynamic businessmen and women for brainstorming sessions as well as talent-spotting candidates to showcase their new ideas to founders, investors, journalists and future entrepreneurs.
Kate has no formal role with the organisation but was persuaded to attend by UKTI, the Government’s trade body, in order to ‘fly the flag for Britain’.
‘Although the Duchess doesn’t have or plan to have a formal role with UKTI, she was very much involved in their work when she and the Duke visited LA last year, as was Prince Harry when he went to Brazil,’ a spokesman said.
‘She is very happy to do what she can to promote UK PLC.’
Afterwards the Duchess mingled for around half an hour, chatting to guests including designer Stella McCartney and Apple inventor Sir Jonathan Ive, designer of the iPhone and iPad.
Best of British: The star-studded bash was thrown by The Founders Forum to celebrate UK culture, creativity, art and entertainment on the back of the GREAT initiative
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said afterwards: 'I was just watching the men's gymnastics in front of Prince Harry and Prince William so I've gone from the Duke to the Duchess.
'What the royal family are brilliant at doing is showing we have the traditions but also we embrace the future.
'And there's something about Prince William and the Duchess that is so about the future and an exciting future for us as a country and obviously the creative industries we're celebrating tonight are part of that.'
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