One’s Country Life portrait? Call for Kate, Duchess of photoshoots
SHe’S become a somewhat reluctant cover girl at the age of 75.
So when Duchess of Cornwall was asked to guest edit – and star on the cover of – Country Life magazine, there was only one person she wanted to take the pictures... her daughter-in-law.
The shot taken by the Duchess of Cambridge appears in the July edition of the publication, just ahead of Camilla’s landmark birthday on July 17.
It was taken at Ray Mill House, Camilla’s country retreat in Lacock, Wiltshire. She bought the six-bedroom property, 17 miles from the Prince of Wales’ Highgrove home, after her divorce from Andrew Parker Bowles in the mid-1990s.
The cover image shows a relaxed and smiling duchess, wearing a blue and white floral dress and cardigan with minimal jewellery (as well as her trusted Fitbit fitness tracker). A keen gardener, she is sitting, smiling and relaxed, holding a trug filled with pelargoniums.
A second portrait, also taken by Kate, is an informal shot of Camilla walking through forget-me-nots in the gardens.
The younger of the two duchesses is, of course, a keen amateur photographer and regularly releases pictures she has taken of her children to mark their birthdays.
She is also patron of the Royal Photographic Society and has taken part in a number of highprofile photographic projects.
The Duchess of Cornwall has joined a prestigious line-up of royal guest editors at the helm of Country Life to not only mark her 75th birthday but the magazine’s 125th anniversary year.
The commemorative collectors’ issue, published on July 13, will be a highlight in a year-long celebration of the magazine’s role in marking the nation’s heritage and championing the countryside and rural life.
The royal edition will reflect The Duchess’s love of horses and dogs – she has two rescue Jack Russell terriers, Bluebell and Beth, and is patron of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
She will also reveal her champions of the countryside, her most cherished view and favourite recipe. It will focus on the work of the duchess as patron of more than 90 charities, from Barnardo’s to the Royal School of Needlework and The Royal Society of Literature.
A royal source told the Mail that it had been the Duchess of Cornwall’s idea to ask Kate to take her portrait and that she had been ‘delighted’ to agree.
Mark Hedges, editor-in- chief of Country Life magazine, said: ‘Her Royal Highness is a passionate countrywoman and we are delighted that she follows her husband in presiding over this commemorative edition.’
Camilla is the fourth royal guest editor, following Charles – twice – and Princess Anne.