Kate Middleton grins alongside Sir Paul McCartney as she unveils £40m revamp of gallery

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The Princess of Wales met Sir Paul McCartney and Tracey Emin as she re-opened the National Portrait Gallery following its three-year, £41.3 million refurbishment.Kate Middleton, who is patron of the gallery, officially opened its new doors in London on Tuesday ahead of its re-opening to members of the public later this week.She met former Beatle Sir Paul and his wife Nancy Shevell in the gallery gift shop, with the three speaking about his own art collections.Earlier, she spoke with award-winning British artist Emin, whose 45 hand-drawn female portraits have been cast in bronze as artwork for the gallery’s new entrance doors.Ms Emin said after the re-opening: “When I arrived, I was anxious.“There was all these other things that were on my mind, and I totally forgot about the doors!“So when I came up, I gasped – it was a big surprise and that lifted my energy.”The Princess also visited the Mildred and Simon Palley Learning Centre, where she met children from Soho Parish Nursery and Westminster Family Hub undertaking a workshop on Beatrix Potter.Kate noted the importance of introducing children to creativity that “captures their imagination” and spoke to three-year-old Raini, praising her work of art and its “buzzy bees”.The gallery will be launching an Under 5’s programme in September, which will welcome families from the local community to the Gallery and encourage creative learning, play and exploration.Kate was then taken through the colourful rooms of Duveen Wing, before stopping to view Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai (Omai), one of the gallery’s newly-acquired paintings.Produced in 1776, it depicts the first Polynesian to visit Britain and is one of the first portraits that includes tattoos.Kate said she loved the