It's back to work for Mrs Clooney

Culture Minister Konstantinos Tasoulas and Amal Clooney were closely followed by photographers in Athens. Picture / AP

Rarely has a legal encounter on the finer points of international cultural heritage law drawn such attention.

Amal Clooney, the British lawyer who married George Clooney last month, yesterday said Greece could embark on a legal battle to win back the Elgin Marbles.

But the focus in Athens was less on the 200-year-old dispute with the British Museum, than on the wife of one of Hollywood's leading actors.

Amal Clooney met Greece's Culture Minister, Konstantinos Tasoulas, for an hour-long discussion of the legal avenues that Athens could explore to recover the friezes.

But she was photographed from the moment she stepped out of her hotel, wearing large sunglasses and a fitted knee-length white shift dress with olive green trim.

As she arrived at the Culture Ministry for the midday meeting, a phalanx of photographers captured her every movement: once inside, she was photographed cocking her head and gazing at Tasoulas; star-struck ministry staff snapped pictures of her on their smartphones.

Afterwards, she said: "I think it's a positive sign that the Greek Government is seeking further legal advice.

"Everybody hopes there will be a friendly and amicable solution, but I think it's prudent for the Government to consider all its legal options."

Having received a film-star reception when she arrived on Tuesday at the five-star Grande Bretagne Hotel, Amal Clooney was similarly mobbed by television crews and photographers when she went for lunch yesterday. She was first asked to provide legal advice regarding the marbles in 2011, before she met George Clooney.