KATE Middleton showed an eye for detail at the Victoria and Albert Museum today – as Meghan Markle hit out over her legal victory.
The Duchess of Cambridge spent the morning viewing the museum’s Faberge exhibition in London as the Duchess of Sussex won her battle against the Mail On Sunday.
Meghan had sued the paper after it published a private letter she sent to her father Thomas Markle in 2018.
And in a scathing statement after the ruling, she accused the publication of treating the case as a “game with no rules”.
The duchess added: “This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right.”
Her comments came as Kate, the first Royal Patron of the V&A, paid a visit to the museum’s Faberge in London: Romance to Revolution exhibition, featuring the largest collection of Faberge’s well-known Imperial Easter Eggs in a generation.
The duchess wore black wide-legged trousers, a patterned pussybow blouse and a black face mask as she made her way through the display.
She was accompanied on her tour, which lasted just under an hour, by V&A director Tristram Hunt and shown around by curator Kieran McCarthy.
Speaking after the visit, Mr McCarthy said Kate had been “fascinated by the whole subject”.
And he added the duchess, who is known to be a keen photographer, showed her clear eye for detail.
“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,” he said.
The context of the visit was a far cry from Meghan’s legal battle, which saw publishers Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) launch an appeal against Meghan’s victory in February – arguing the judge was not aware of all the facts at the time.
But judges at the Court of Appeal today ruled in Meghan’s favour and dismissed the appeal.
MEG’S VICTORY
After the ruling, Meghan said: “From day one, I have treated this lawsuit as an important measure of right versus wrong.
“The defendant has treated it as a game with no rules.”
She added she has been patient “in the face of deception, intimidation, and calculated attacks” in the three years since the case began.
The V&A’s Faberge collection features items lent by The Queen, including the Colonnade Egg, the Basket Of Flowers Egg and the Mosaic Egg.
Admiring the Peacock Egg, which features an enamelled gold peacock perched on a flowering tree, Kate could be heard saying “I love the tree”.
The exhibition, which opened on November 20, showcases more than 200 objects and celebrates the work of Faberge and his internationally recognised company.
Other items include the long lost Third Imperial Egg, which was discovered by a scrap dealer in 2011 after going missing in 1964.
The largest Imperial Egg – the Moscow Kremlin Egg – is also among the collection, as well as the Alexander Palace Egg, which contains a model of the palace inside.
During the visit, Kate, who at times bent down to get a closer look at the items on display, was informed about Faberge’s works and the relatively unknown Anglo-Russian nature of his enterprise, with his only branch outside Russia opening in London in 1903.
Before leaving, she told Mr McCarthy “Well done” and asked him to pass on her thanks to his team.
