Royal Watch News

Duchess Catherine to attend reception

Jul 30, 2012, 12:01 GMT

Duchess Catherine

Britain's Duchess Catherine will attend a reception celebrating UK culture, creativity, art and entertainment tonight (30.07.12).

The duchess will carry out the engagement at London's Royal Academy of Arts without her husband Prince William but 800 others will be in attendance, including representatives of the UK's leading creative companies, industry figureheads, as well as guests from overseas businesses interested in investing in or buying creative services from the UK.

The reception is part of the government's GREAT campaign, which aims to use the platform of the Olympics to showcase Britain's capabilities and enhance its reputation abroad.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, and Christopher Le Brun, president of The Royal Academy, will both give speeches at the event.

The event is a Trade and Industry engagement and has led to speculation that William and Catherine - who was known as Kate Middleton prior to the couple's nuptials last year - could be given more duties in this area after Prince Andrew stepped down as Trade Envoy last year.

However, a royal spokesperson insisted the engagement was in conjunction with Catherine's role with the London Games.

They told the Daily Mirror newspaper: 'One of William, Kate and Harry's main jobs is to show off Britain on the world stage during the Olympics and Paralympics.

'Occasionally this will mean doing an industry engagement but there are no specific plans for them to do more work in this area.'