Kate Middleton kicks off the Olympics

Kate Middleton kicked off a series of Olympic-themed royal events on Thursday with a visit to an exhibit of athlete portraits.

The Duchess of Cambridge, 30, attended the opening of the exhibit Road to 2012: Aiming High at the National Portrait Gallery, where she is a patron.

The royal fashionista chose a dress creation by Stella McCartney – who has also designed Team Great Britain's kit for the Olympic Games – and paired it with a gold hooped necklace.

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She also ditched her usual nude LK Bennett shoes for black Prada heels and sported her trademark blow dry.

She accessorised with necklace featuring a large gold ring pendant along with four other rings - another possible nod to the Olympics.

The distinctive piece of jewellery is from her own personal collection, but aides told the Daily Mail she thought it appropriate to wear it today because of the Olympic theme.

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Of Kate, gallery's director Sandy Nairne said:

"We know she loves taking photographs. She was very intrigued about how things got taken and why they got taken. She was asking lovely questions."

Kate was also led through a private tour of the gallery, where she saw portraits of Queen Elizabeth as well as a video shot by Sam Taylor-Wood of David Beckham sleeping shirtless.

When she was shown a photograph of herself playing hockey taken by Jillian Edelstein, the surprised Duchess said with a gasp: "Oh no."

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Kate, Prince William and brother-in-law Harry are Olympics ambassadors, and former men's rowing champion Sir Steve Redgrave - who won five Olympic gold medals between 1984 and 2000 - thinks they will bring a morale boost to the camp.

He said: "They are heavily involved in supporting our athletes at 2012 and will be coming along to watch a lot of our stars compete, which will have a very positive impact.

"What's great about them is that it is clear that they do not pay lip service. They are very into their sports and are genuinely interested, like Princess Anne."