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While her husband is away in the Falklands, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, made her first public solo engagement by touring the Lucian Freud preview at the National Portrait Gallery. Her Royal Highness, who has a degree in History of Art, became patron of the gallery last month.
 Check out more photos of Catherine's solo engagement here! Catherine saw the artwork set to be put on display and met with the art world’s famed including Freud’s daughters Bella and Esther and the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
She also met Sue Tilly, who posed naked for four Freud portraits. When asked how she would feel having the Duchess see paintings of her in the nude, Tilly, age 54, laughed it off.
“I’m not embarrassed about her seeing me naked – I’m a human being,” she said before the event. “It’s art, you know. Poor woman, I’m sure she’s seen things before.”
The Duchess got rave reviews for her first solo engagement by the gallery’s director.
“The Duchess was extremely attentive and I think really interested in not just the chance to see the full range of Lucian Freud’s work but very interested to see the differences in technique,” said Sandy Nairne.
Catherine’s visit to the National Portrait Gallery comes as St. James Palace confirms that she will sit for her own official portrait soon.
A Palace spokesman said: “The Duchess is happy to do it some time in the future. There haven’t been any decisions about who the artist will be, this is being discussed.”
Sources: Telegraph, Sky News
The Queen of Norway debuts her artistic works at the Jacob Hansen House in Helsingborg Thursday. Attending the event was King Harald V, Crown Prince Haakon and Sweden’s Queen Silvia.
 Click here for more photos at Dagbladet.no The exhibit, “Under Great Pressure” features eight of Queen Sonja’s graphic designs. She teamed up with Kjell Nupen and Ørnulf Opdahl for this project, and created the eight designs based on the duo’s photographs of Svalbard. The Queen is among eighty artists who contributed to this project.
Her Majesty has long had an artsy side, even having a photography exhibit in 2009.
“I am proud,” said King Harald after studying his wife’s art.
Even son Crown Prince Haakon was impressed. “It is very fine work,” he said.
The purpose of this exhibition is to mark the 40th anniversary of the renowned graphic studio Ateljé Larsen. Sonja’s cooperation with Kjell Nupen and Ørnulf Opdahl is to set up an art scholarship in her name. That scholarship will be first distributed in the summer of next year.
Source: Dagbladet, Adressa
Wednesday night saw Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco arrive in Toronto, Canada to inaugurate an exhibition dedicated to Albert’s late mother, Princess Grace.
 Click here to see more photos of their arrival The exhibit, called “Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess” is located at the Toronto International Film Festival Lightbox, and it features her personal correspondence, famous fashions, films and lots of memorabilia.
“She would have been deeply touched, I think, by the tribute that is paid to her,” Prince Albert II said, adding audiences will be able “to discover my mother beyond Princess Grace’s legendary image.”
“Of course you see the glamour, her incredible sense of style and taste, but you also discover some of her personal correspondence, some of the artifacts, some of the objects that were part of her everyday life,” the Prince told CBC News Wednesday evening.
“I think it’s a great insight into the great personality that she was, the incredible generosity of her heart and spirit.”
Albert and Charlene toured the exhibit before going to a cocktail reception which had photos and videos of the Hollywood actress turned European royal projected on some of the walls. Another wall showed the magazine covers Grace made.
Also at the exhibit is a replica of Grace’s legendary wedding dress, worn during her 1956 wedding to Prince Rainier III. The original is too delicate to travel, and is housed in Philadelphia where she was born.
Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess is part of a worldwide tour that has stopped in London and Moscow. Toronto is only place North America could see the exhibit. It will run until January 22nd. After that, it will go to Australia.
Sources: CBC, Globe and Mail
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg opened a photo exhibit Friday, along with representatives from a charity in Burundi, a country located in eastern Africa. This exhibition is not just about art; it is about the plight of Burundi’s children who are imprisoned for years over minor acts.
 Click here for original Wort.lu article “Often children end up 12 or 13 years behind bars because they have stolen a goat or a flat iron,” Maria Teresa told reporters.
Once released, those children are left to fend for themselves in a poor country.
The Grand Duchess learned firsthand about this issue during her visit to Burundi in June 2009 as part of her role as a UNICEF ambassador. So affected, she turned the organization called Shalom House which aims mainly to help war orphans. Together with the Fondation du Grand-Duc et de la Grande-Duchesse, Shalom House began to find ways to help the delinquents find hope.
“They learn trades they can use later: auto mechanics, masons, carpenters,” said Grand Duchess Maria Teresa.
So far, 108 young people have benefited from this program. At the same time, good lawyers have successfully helped sentences in 157 cases be reduced.
This project relies on donations, though, and little is done in Burundi about juvenile delinquents. However, the Grand Duchess expressed how please she was with the people of Luxembourg responding positively to this cause.
Source: Wort
 Click here for more photos at Zimbio.com Spain’s Infanta Cristina represented her country during the opening of the exhibit, “The Invention of Glory: King Alfonso V and Tapestries Pastrana”, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The tapestries, which measure 10 meters wide and 4 meters high, depict the conquest of the Moroccan cities of Tangiers and Arzila.
Made from between 1475 to 1480, the artwork was owned by Mendoza family until the 17th century.
It is now being shown around the United States and will soon come to Guadalajara, Mexico.
Infanta Cristina, her husband and their four children, moved to the United States two years ago because of Inaki Urdangarin’s job. They now live outside of Washington, D.C.
Source: Hoy Mujer
At the Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn Saturday, Queen Beatrix and her daughter-in-law, Princess Maxima, received a tour of a new exhibit showcasing Maxima’s decade in the Netherlands.
 Click here to see more of the exhibit Its been 10 years since it was announced that she will marry the heir to the Dutch throne, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, and since then, the Argentinian Maxima has become one of the most popular members of the royal family. This exhibit honors the Princess’ place in Dutch society.
The exhibit features some of Maxima’s most famous attire – the Valentino wedding gown she wore to her 2002 wedding to Willem-Alexander, her ensemble worn to the baptism of eldest daughter, Princess Catharina Amalia, as well as several other articles of clothing. Photographs are shown alongside the outfits, which are encased in glass.
Besides celebrating 10 years in her adopted country, Princess Maxima has another milestone coming up. Later this month, she turns 40 years old. It is expected the Dutch royals will throw a major bash that will include royalty from around Europe.
“Princess Maxima, 10 Years in the Netherlands” officially opens Sunday and will run until September 4th 2011.
Source: Paleis Het Loo
 Click here for more pics of the event Despite some royal wedding happening this Friday  , there are other events happening the world of royalty. For example, Belgium’s Princess Astrid paid a visit to a photo exhibit of photographer Lieve Blancquaert in Ghent.
2011 marks Blancquaert’s 25 years of photographing, and her work was on display at the Bank van de Arbeid – The Bank of Labour.
All types of photos – from color to black and white, portraits, photojournalism and some personal polaroids – are on display.
This exhibition will run until May 6th.
Source: Een.be
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain are currently in St. Petersburg, Russia to inaugurate the Spain-Russia Dual Year, which is dedicated to cement the economic and cultural ties between the two nations.
 AP Photo/ RIA Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Presidential Press Service They, along with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and First Lady Svetlana Medvedeva, spent most of Friday at the Hermitage Museum to exchange art works at the landmark museum to begin the cultural links.
“Russia and Spain are two countries that are essential for understanding European culture, history and identity,” said King Juan Carlos at the ceremony in the Throne Room of the Hermitage Museum, formerly the Winter Palace of the czars.
“Both countries not only wish to give renewed impetus to the great tide of understanding and friendship that has always linked our peoples, but to make clear our shared goal of expanding and deepening bilateral relations,” the king also said at the inauguration of “The Prado in the Hermitage” exhibition.
The exhibit will showcase 66 works of art from Spain’s Prado Museum by such creators as Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Titian and Rubens.
President Medvedev, who intends to make his second visit to Spain in November, said that the Dual Year program, with more than 350 commercial, cultural and scientific activities, “opens new possibilities of contact between peoples.”
 REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin Queen Sofia and First Lady Svetlana Medvedeva toured the rest of the Hermitage to get a look at Russian fine art, plus the apartment where Alexander Pushkin lived.
This coming November will see 170 art pieces from the Hermitage come to the Prado as part of the cultural exchange. It will have work by Rubens and Watteaau as well as Cezanne, Renoir, Gauguin and Matisse.
Earlier on Friday, the Spanish King and the Russian President held a business forum in which they discussed the potential for more economic ties in the field of technological modernization and innovation. Juan Carlos emphasized that Spanish business leaders “are wholeheartedly turning to Russia.”
“Russia and Spain each has one foot in Europe and the other in the world, and as global players they have an enormous potential for cooperation,” said Antonio Brufau, CEO of Spanish energy giant Repsol YPF.
Source: EFE, AFP
On Thursday, Spain’s Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia inaugurated the 30th annual International Contemporary Art Fair (ARCO) in Madrid. They were accompanied by the Minister of Culture, Ángeles González-Sinde, and the director of the show, Carlos Urroz. This was the third consecutive year the couple opened this event.
 Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images The future King and Queen were given a nearly two hour tour of the art fair, which features 3,000 art pieces by artists from 21 countries, with Russia is the guest country this year.
Felipe and Letizia were given a chance to draw with chalk on a blackboard, they played works that can be touched, spoke on live radio and, especially, looked at the new trends in contemporary art.
The Prince was particularly interested in the exhibit by Spanish artist Fernando Sánchez Castillo, called “Christmas trees”, consisting of a Christmas tree lying on the ground.
His wife’s favorite artwork was “Kusha”, which depicts a woman in minidress, stockings, garter belt and “peep toes” holding a cake in her hands. The work belongs to the series ‘Pin-up girls’, for which the author has photographed Russian women immigrants in the traditional poses of the girls happy postwar American calendar. According to Europa Press, Letizia said: “With those heels in the kitchen, it would be hard.”
After the tour, Prince Felipe gave a brief comment to a journalist, saying the media should continue to give attention to the fair.
Besides the exhibition, prominent professionals, intellectuals, artists, philosophers and foundations will participate in round tables and meetings interesting during the fair’s tenure.
Sources: ¡Hola!, ABC.es
 Terra Noticias The second child of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia was in St. Petersburg, Florida Tuesday to open the Dali Museum, the largest collection of the Spanish artist outside of Spain.
Infanta Cristina and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, represented their country for the inauguration as they have been since moving to the United States nearly two years ago.
Museum director Hank Hine, noted that, it was an honor to have a member of the Spanish royal family present because they “has always displayed tremendous leadership in the Spanish culture.”
The museum contains 96 oil paintings, hundreds of acrylics, watercolors and about 2,000 objects related to the life of Salvador Dali. Its architecture reflects the surreal and ambiguous forms that characterize the work of the late Catalan artist. It cost $36 million to build.
Monday saw the gala celebrating the opening of the museum. Tuesday, at 11:11am, Infanta Cristina cut the ribbon to officially open it.
Source: EFE
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