For years, Kensington Palace has stored up little updates, announcements and photos for a rainy day, something to be released when the public asks why Prince William and Kate are taking their seventh vacation of the year. This week is one of those “rainy day releases.” The Mail did a big cover story on the Wales family’s vacation on a superyacht in Greece, so KP organized this update. Remember how Kate stepped out at the new V&A East Storehouse in June? Well, now Kate has her own little mini-exhibit at the same museum space.
The Princess of Wales has curated her own ‘mini display’ at the V&A East Storehouse in London, following her visit there in June. Kate, 43, who is Royal Patron of the V&A, has personally worked with the museum’s curatorial team to select eight significant works from across its large collection for her ‘Makers and Creators’ exhibition, unveiled today for the first time.
Her chosen objects include a watercolour study of a forest glade by children’s author Beatrix Potter, a 15th-century earthenware tile and a furnishing screen designed by William Morris’s assistant, J H Dearle in the mid-1880s. They also include Oliver Messel’s costume for the Fairy of the Woodland Glades, worn by Diana Vere in The Royal Ballet’s 1960 production of The Sleeping Beauty.
The Princess, who was given a behind-the-scenes tour of the storehouse in June, selected an 19th-century hand quilted bedcover, an oil panting, a Qing dynasty porcelain vase and a sculpture by Clemence Dane. Visitors to the Storehouse will be able to view the collection as part of the self-guided experience until early 2026.
The Makers and Creators display brings together objects chosen by The Princess to celebrate past makers and creators, and show how historic objects can influence fashion, design, film, art and creativity today. The display, one of over 100 changing ‘mini displays’ aims to show how ‘individual, unique objects can come together to create a collective whole that helps us to explore our social and cultural experiences, and the role we play in the wider tapestry of life’.
An information sheet accompanying the display is credited as ‘written by: Her Royal Highness Princess of Wales’.
What an amazing gig, if you can get it. I’d like to be paid millions of pounds to do 20 days of work a year and take vacations constantly. And the work? It includes selecting cute items for an art exhibit and reading two sentences from a written notecard to launch a ship! This is literally all she’s doing for the rest of the summer too. The way they were talking after she skipped Royal Ascot, it sounds like Kate will not have much on her schedule for the rest of the year.
Curating a special display at V&A East Storehouse following a visit in June. The collection celebrates past makers and creators, and shows how historic objects can influence fashion, design, film, art and creativity today.
See the mini display ‘Makers and Creators’ at @vam_east. pic.twitter.com/39F3z1Tpph
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) July 30, 2025
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
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- MccLi0014289 ©Eddie Mulholland ROTA The Princess of Wales visiting the V&A East Storehouse, a brand-new cultural destination in east London,to highlight the importance of creative opportunity and celebrate the joy found in creative expression. Opened on 31 May, V&A East Storehouse reinvents the idea of a museum store and offers free,unprecedented public access to the V&A collections and archives. PIC : Photography studio.,Image: 1009294885, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Mulholland/Avalon
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- MccLi0014289 ©Eddie Mulholland ROTA The Princess of Wales visiting the V&A East Storehouse, a brand-new cultural destination in east London,to highlight the importance of creative opportunity and celebrate the joy found in creative expression. Opened on 31 May, V&A East Storehouse reinvents the idea of a museum store and offers free,unprecedented public access to the V&A collections and archives. PIC : HRH with Oriole Cullen, Senior Fashion and Textiles Curator and Kate Parsons Director of Collections Care and Access with a 19th Century Riding Habit.,Image: 1009294907, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Mulholland/Avalon
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- MccLi0014289 ©Eddie Mulholland ROTA The Princess of Wales visiting the V&A East Storehouse, a brand-new cultural destination in east London,to highlight the importance of creative opportunity and celebrate the joy found in creative expression. Opened on 31 May, V&A East Storehouse reinvents the idea of a museum store and offers free,unprecedented public access to the V&A collections and archives. PIC : HRH in The Cloth Working Centre.,Image: 1009294977, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Mulholland/Avalon
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- MccLi0014289 ©Eddie Mulholland ROTA The Princess of Wales visiting the V&A East Storehouse, a brand-new cultural destination in east London,to highlight the importance of creative opportunity and celebrate the joy found in creative expression. Opened on 31 May, V&A East Storehouse reinvents the idea of a museum store and offers free,unprecedented public access to the V&A collections and archives. PIC : HRH in The Cloth Working Centre.,Image: 1009294993, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Mulholland/Avalon
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- MccLi0014289 ©Eddie Mulholland ROTA The Princess of Wales visiting the V&A East Storehouse, a brand-new cultural destination in east London,to highlight the importance of creative opportunity and celebrate the joy found in creative expression. Opened on 31 May, V&A East Storehouse reinvents the idea of a museum store and offers free,unprecedented public access to the V&A collections and archives. PIC : HRH escorted by Tristram Hunt Director of The V&A.,Image: 1009295014, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Mulholland/Avalon
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- MccLi0014289 ©Eddie Mulholland ROTA The Princess of Wales visiting the V&A East Storehouse, a brand-new cultural destination in east London,to highlight the importance of creative opportunity and celebrate the joy found in creative expression. Opened on 31 May, V&A East Storehouse reinvents the idea of a museum store and offers free,unprecedented public access to the V&A collections and archives.,Image: 1009295050, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Mulholland for The Telegraph/Avalon
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- MccLi0014289 ©Eddie Mulholland ROTA The Princess of Wales visiting the V&A East Storehouse, a brand-new cultural destination in east London,to highlight the importance of creative opportunity and celebrate the joy found in creative expression. Opened on 31 May, V&A East Storehouse reinvents the idea of a museum store and offers free,unprecedented public access to the V&A collections and archives. PIC : HRH escorted by Tristram Hunt Director of The V&A.,Image: 1009295097, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Mulholland/Avalon
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM – The Princess of Wales visits the V&A East Storehouse, a brand-new cultural destination to highlight the importance of creative opportunity and celebrate the joy found in creative expression in Stratford, London, UK. Pictured: Catherine, Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales BACKGRID USA 10 JUNE 2025 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
‘Written by’ sure Jan.
🤣
It included the cliche ‘tapestry of life’ so yeah, I can believe she wrote it. And if she actually selected these pieces, they didn’t show her everything–nothing goes with anything else! if this is a peek at her interior design skills, her homes are full of disorder.
The collection does work together if you understand the assignment. I can’t help but think if this was Meghan’s work the praise would be though the roof.
Kate has never demonstrated independent thought. She was very likely guided by the actual curator and made choices from a few things.
And if we are going to bring in Meghan, at the very least we can see a consistent design approach in how Meghan does things because Meghan shows her work and doesn’t have staff do everything for her.
Kate was the girl copying off her classmates at St Andrews and not knowing basic things like Fabrege eggs. She focused on acquiring a Prince and nothing else.
@Megan, can you help us out by explaining how the pieces work together? Thanks!
Duchess of Doolittle indeed.
Donothing at this Stage.
I bet a minion did the curation for her.
I recently learned that she changed her major in university for willy. Maybe that’s why she never showed any real interested in career other than chasing william around. That’s why she never took any part in royals arts etc. At the end of her university she got william and that’s her only goal in life.
What makes it worse is that the British university system does not have “majors.”
You choose one subject to study, you choose that subject before you apply, and you make your application for that subject. Then you ONLY study classes in that one subject. You don’t take any classes at all that aren’t related to your subject.
For example if you want to study English, you submit an application for the English department and you have to meet the specific requirements for English. If you want to study maths, the requirements are totally different. All of this happens long before you ever get to university.
So the opposite from the USA system where you take both English and math classes as freshman then you might decide to focus on one or the other.
So she didn’t “switch majors” (my understanding is that this isn’t a big deal in USA universities since you’re already taking classes in lots of subjects), she effectively dropped out of her whole entire degree course, and started a brand new one.
She certainly would not have attended one single class in the new subject before she changed to it, because it doesn’t work that way. You can’t attend an art history class unless you’re enrolled on an art history degree or a related degree. So it’s not the same as an American student who takes classes in lots of subjects and might organically change their mind which class they like best.
It’s not unheard of for British students to switch their degree course. And it’s not difficult to do, as long as you meet the entry criteria for the new degree programme that you’re switching to. But it’s a big deal – by switching you say goodbye to every single person in your old classes, you say goodbye to your entire department, probably switch buildings, maybe even switch to a different college entirely. It’s a big deal to do just to chase a boy.
SW, thank you. Never knew all that before – that certainly does put a whole new level of context to the “switching majors” discussion.
I believe Scotland follows the US model somewhat more closely than the English model of “this is all you’re going to study.” I was trying to talk my kids into studying in Scotland (great education for less), but they thought it was too far away….
how hard it is to switch majors in the US depends a lot on when you do it and what you’re switching from. You don’t declare your major until later in college (I think my college we did it in our last year) so you have to make sure you are taking the right courses all along. But most students start out with a major in mind. Switching from biology to religion is a little difficult in your freshman year, but it would be really hard in your senior year.
Anyway I don’t think Kate changed her studies anyway. She changed her university – she originally applied and was accepted to Edinburgh but then switched to St Andrews when it was announced William was going there. But I think she was always art history. by the time William switched to geography she already knew him (maybe they were hooking up?) so she didn’t need to be that obvious and switch.
She changed universities as well, she had been offered a place at Edinburgh, according to her teachers, that was the one she had always dreamt of attending and went to St Andrew’s instead. She also took a year out so she could be in the same year group as him.
Just chiming in on this discussion: re English schools. I remember when I was a grad student at Cambridge one of the undergrads in my college had found that the subject they were studying was not really what they wanted & too hard, etc., but they made her finish out the year in that subject before allowing her to switch.
Now me, as an undergrad in Oregon (the first time) way back in the 70s, yes, indeed, we chose our majors from the get-go. Sure, there were the state-required courses everybody had to take (unless you tested out or met other criteria–my SATs got me out of math, as did taking calculus in high school). I majored in anthropology (wanted to be an archaeologist), dropped out after a year & a half, then when I returned to school roughly ten years later I changed my major to history because I ended up switching to a smaller school that didn’t have an anthropology department (the anthropologists & lone archaeologist were shoehorned into the sociology department). I majored in history instead because I had always taken just as many history classes as anthropology classes. It worked out fine.
As for Kate, whatever she did she had an extra year to do it, as I recall in addition to changing schools & majors, she also delayed a year.
Did she? Wiki says she graduated 2:1 in Art History while Willy in Geography 2:1 with MA Hons (must have done a thesis).
2:1s are perfectly acceptable. A 1:1 is nerdish behaviour. A 3 is pretty bad though.
Lazy switched universities from Edinburgh to St Andrew’s and wantonly started to chase him throughout their gap year. She didn’t switch her degree to Geography. I think even that would be suspect and OTT blatant.
I think she was going to take psychology at Edinburgh. But no she didn’t switch her major when at St Andrews.
Also the grading must be meaningless because how can someone get a 2:1 in art history and not know basic shit like Fabrege eggs.
William switched from art history to geography, Kate’s the one who changed schools to go after a degree in art history AND William.
And yeah, Kate’s degree was a gimme. William’s as well. It’s well known in the UK that the BRF will get their degrees no matter what. Looks like that extends to royal GFs as well.
Kate was originally going to go to Edinburgh but then learned William was going to St Andrews and so she took a gap year like William and went to St Andrews. William was going to take art history so she applied there too.
William is the one who switched to geography in second year because art history was too much for him.
I did see some references to Kate taking psychology but outside of a few courses, she wouldn’t have applied to a different program than William, who was originally art history.
Sorry for the ignorant question, but is a 2:1 good, bad, or in the middle? Thanks!
The grades are
First
Upper second – 2:1
Lower second – 2:2
Third
Most people get a 2:1 or 2:2.
A first is still a really great achievement especially from a top Uni.
A third means you have been lazy usually, messed up some papers or just struggled.
Soooo this thing that she did a month ago is being presented like its a new event or something and I’m sure will get another mention in the Court Circular.
i wonder if this was planned for release today or if this was meant to be a distraction from the yacht story.
Right? There was an entire glow-up about her when she visited the museum along with cryptic notes about the items she looked at being something, something about nature. I guess a painting, a tile, a bedspread, a vase, a screen, and a costume qualifies as items from nature?
Well, the costume has leaves on it! 😉🙄
For all the clear lack of organisational skills shown by anyone in the royal families’ orbit, I am confident there is a folder labelled ‘diversions & distractions’ on a laptop at KP that they go to when one is needed and the press (gasp) criticise them or H&M do something that’s getting loads of attention.
Distraction. But trinkets are a poor effort against a massive stinking yacht with your parents who want titles! 😂
I bet if you asked her what she curated she couldn’t even tell you.
It must be really nice to be celebrated because you breathe. I wish every woman was treated this way.
Sooo… what else? A 4 seasons summer video? What else? Trump’s state visit. What else? Christmas Carole service. I’m guessing there will be a scattering of other events in the fall. Meanwhile the BM will write articles scolding the public for being too demanding of Kate. Who basically needs to take it easy for basically forever.
Tangent- but in the straight on pic of her face at the bottom- she looks insane.
On the plus side it is nice to see her face can move and her face isn’t in a super puffy filler phase.
While the windors do less work and make themselves less relevant, are they looking forward to the day where they are just the richest people in england, without all that annoying “public service” though they will miss the money for access cash and the public funding. and the point of their existance.
Wow, this seems incredibly low-effort. And even then, I suspect the museum just gave her a list of suggestions which she said “yeah whatever (yawn)” to.
Come on KP, you can do better than that.
We need a LAUNCH where she appears to show off her “curation.”
This pre-made pre-fab stuff sounds like an IKEA project.
Lazy is missing for the summer and the people are restless and hungry.
ITA @Blogger, she needed to be there at the launch. And ITA@Jensa, they probably just showed her a few items and she said yeah, whatever. This seems an incredibly low effort.
Don’t look at the yacht vacation look at this little exhibit I curated (a while ago) at the museum. See I do things (not).
Not going to lie, if was royalty this is what I would spend my time doing
Curating or yachting?
At least have a hobby!
I’m with you, Lauren. If I had access to the treasure trove of museum art and artifacts, I’d curate the hell out it and publish a coffee table book of unseen works. Or at least throw a fabulous party like the Met Gala and raise millions.
I actually don’t think her curating an exhibition is a bad thing. But more of it if that makes sense. It feels like a throwaway thing to post it while on vacation. Maybe she’ll do an event there in the fall.
This isn’t a bad thing. its what we’ve been saying for ages though – she needs to do this times a hundred. and also not try to drag one visit out into multiple social media posts etc.
For someone with an art history degree this is exactly the type of thing she should have been doing all along. Shoot, she should have actually tried for a job with this museum while chasing Willie Boy all over the world.
Shes,too lazy to curate. Sh probably approved of a real curators work.
I can believe that Tessa . Or at least she deferred to an expert. But she could still be doing more more more of it. If she had good staff maybe.
There is more than just the V and A out there and if she really gave a shit she would have been highlighting the smaller museums across the UK.
But Kate cares only about herself.
So is she gonna do a video for Summer or has that project been ditched already
@Lover perhaps the theme music could be Club Tropicana and she and Willy could re-enact the classic Wham video using the holiday yacht as a backdrop?
I … would totally watch that. Her Club Tropicana drinks are certainly freeeee
Why is she so work averse? Or even interest averse? I know she is called lazy, but this seems…even beyond that. Her life and perspective must be so foreign to me that I can’t even wrap my head around this kind of aversion. How painful are these visits for her? Is it that she does have self awareness and just feels awkward and incompetent the entire time? How did she not feel awkward and tense climbing the social ladder, inserting herself into aristocratic groups? How can she translate social climbing energy to royal engagements, lol, because that seems like her big driver. Maybe she is so burnt out from her climb to the top that she truly cant do anything else ever again? So odd.
She’ll never be confident in anything if she never tries anything.
New rose drop coming next week so this will be immediately ignored. 🤣
Do you have more detail?
Taxpayers should not pay for keens idleness
Honestly, why doesn’t Kate just do this? There are British museums galore who could use the boost, no? It’s her area of expertise (such as it is) and would be easy work with curator help.
This feels so middle school. Someone brought out some pieces during her tour last month and she pointed at a few. If Meghan did this, she’d curate the hell out of 100 pieces, there’d be a clear theme across all the objects, and an accompanying exhibition book for sale with proceeds going to charity.
This. There was a podcast of one of the women from smart works talking about all the work Meghan put into it. Meghan wanted to do well when she was in the royal family and was not falling back on the guarantee that she would get fluff pieces from the BM. Bc clearly she wouldn’t. Whereas Kate knows she can do the bare minimum and get fluffed up behind all recognition, a different type of FUBAR, lol.
This is exactly what Meghan would do. My overachieving queen
Did Kate actually put in the work for that art history degree, to have reasonable knowledge of the subject to speak on this mini exhibit, or did someone take her exams for her to pass the courses and get the degree?
I would say she had to work initially (although she was known to copy from her classmates in class). She wasn’t officially his girlfriend until their second or third year. After that, it is very unlikely she had to work as hard as the regular students.
She certainly hasn’t demonstrated any intelligence post university. The poor speaking skills should be shaming St Andrews.
One of her professors anonymously told the press she was “just another girl in a pashmina” and that any comment about a sparkling personality or charisma was being said with the benefit of hindsight