Duchess Kate steps out for Olympic gallery exhibit

Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, is seen with Director of the National Portrait Gallery Sandy Nairne during an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery on July 19, 2012.

/ AP

(CBS News) Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, visited the Road to 2012: Aiming High exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London on Thursday. The exhibition features newly-commissioned photographic portraits of Olympic athletes.

Pictures: Kate at the National Portrait Gallery
Pictures: Kate, Duchess of Cambridge
Pictures: Kate and the Olympics
Pictures: Kate's royal looks

According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, while there, Duchess Kate also took in the museum's Diamond Jubilee Exhibition on The Queen, Art and Image.

Welcomed by dignitaries, including Dame Tanith Grey-Thompson, Kate wore a blue Stella McCartney crepe dress, priced online at approximately $809. The dress description notes: "This simple shift embodies easy luxury with its minimalist silhouette and eye-catching bold hue."

Kate, 30, polished it off with a gold chain necklace, featuring a circular pendant, and a pair of black kitten heels.

Prince William's wife kept with the London Olympics theme, both by sporting vibrant blue and by wearing a frock by McCartney, who's also the designer of Great Britain's Olympic uniforms.

Kate's appearance sparked the latest round of online pregnancy reports. As she always does, Kate held her hands by her stomach, prompting even more baby rumors. The Daily Beast pointed out the "fullness" of Kate's figure on Thursday, for example.

Since last summer, speculation about a royal baby has become something of a national pasttime. So far, the reports have not amounted to anything. You can look at the pictures here and decide for yourself.

This Portrait Gallery visit marks one of the many Olympic-related events Kate will take part in over the next several weeks.

[cattiej]

Who cares if she pregnant...I care that her dress cost so much money...when is the last time I shopped for a $800 dress....never..I wonder how many of the English people care that she has such expensive dresses...many of them are just trying to get by like the rest of us here in the U.S. I think the Queen appears to be a nice person but he son Charles is a dud as is his wife, who should never have been allowed to attend any royal affairs....I still say that Princies Di was killed because she was going to move to the U.S. and bring William and Harry with her...

[MagnaCartaUK]

Catherine devotes a good deal of time to charities, some of which support very sick children. Meanwhile, all some of the media can do is childishly speculate on whether she's pregnant. .... "Oooh oooo, guess what I've seen? (Tee-hee-hee) Catherine looks as though she's hiding something in her tummy (snigger, snigger), oooh I knew before you did." ... For God's sake grow up. What if she is pregnant, it's not some Earth-shattering event of biblical proportions is it? Instead, why not spend some time covering her charity work, and look at some of the good she does instead of parroting the same old boring rhetoric of the school-playground month after month? Take a look at the work William and Harry are involved with in Africa for example. Granted not everyone's interested in our Royal Family, but it's insulting the intelligence of those that are to think that their understanding only extends to whether she's with child. My brother met the late Diana a few times in a professional capacity, and much of her work is still hardly heard of. There's far, far more to them than crowns and babies - and they're a lot more down to earth than most people realize. *N.B. Naturally, I wasn't including C.B.S. in this criticism - ahem.

[aChangeOfIdeas]

seriously. and I wish they would stop talking about her clothes. she wears nice clothes, I get it.

[MagnaCartaUK]

Lol, yes that's right 'ChangeOfIdeas' - and her clothes too.

[inmom63]

The "fullness" of a pregnant woman???? I don't see an ounce of fullness anywhere on that girl!!

[mari1963]

She's not pregnant, and what if she never is?

Maybe William and Kate don't want children. Leave them alone. They'll have children when or if they are ready.

[Jaylah54200]

I sure don't see any baby-bump there.

Besides, why wouldn't she want to wait until her husband finishes his military service before getting pregnant? Being a "rich" single mom isn't any fun, either.

It's not like there's a big rush to make sure there's an heir. Her father and law AND husband have to bite the big one first.

And I think both William and Kate learned a lot from Charles' first marriage. Like don't get pregnant right after you're married.

[SUZAMBA]

When she and Will are ready for a child, it will happen, until then........give it a rest would you!

[carolhill814]

Leave the girl alone so she stands with her hand in front of her a lot of girls do if she is with child she wouldn't be able to hide it much longer she is skinny like a rail.

[tmonta67]

I said it last week at Wimbeldon: she has the face of a pregnant woman.