Kate looks a picture during trip to Turner gallery

Hundreds of people turned out to greet Kate as she arrived at the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate, Kent, which opened in 2011.

The Duchess, who is patron of the National Portrait Gallery, met artists whose works are displayed in a new exhibition of self portraits, before meeting schoolchildren in the gallery’s Clore Learning Studio.

Inspired by JMW Turner’s links to Margate, the £17m Turner Contemporary was built to spearhead the regeneration of the resort. It is said to have generated £32 million into the local economy through tourism and inward investment, helping put the north Kent coastal town on the cultural map.

During the visit Kate, who is due to give birth to her second child next month, met six-week-old baby Evan and his parents 36-year-old Tim Ratliff and Tamsin Landells.

Their encounter happened during the royal’s second and final engagement in the town, at Resort Studios, a Victorian warehouse now home to 40 creative people.

Kate beamed as she was introduced to Evan, who was born weighing 6lbs 2oz, and revealed to Evan’s parents that Prince George was now becoming more mobile.

Ms Landells, 33, said afterwards: “It was good to meet another working mum. It was an inspiration.”