Duchess chooses her dogs for Girls in Pearls
Jack Russells wearing her necklaces have starring role under her Country Life guest editorship
WHEN Prince Charles was guest editor of Country Life in November 2013, he gallantly chose his wife for the magazine’s “Girls in Pearls” feature.
Other members of the Royal family to have starred in the famous frontispiece include the Queen, the Princess Royal, Queen Victoria, Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary.
But in a humorous twist on a long running tradition, Camilla, Duchess of
Cornwall, has selected her two dogs for the magazine’s Girls in Pearls.
Under her guest editorship, the Duchess chose her two Jack Russell terriers, Beth and Bluebell, to feature in the next edition.
The Duchess even went as far as dressing the two dogs – who were rescued from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home – in a string of pearls, in what Country Life described as “an amusing twist on the traditional girls in pearls’ page”.
Dogs have previously featured in the Girls in Pearls section alongside their owners, but the Duchess gives Beth and Bluebell pride and place on their own,
Paula Lester, Country Life’s managing editor, said the Duchess used her own pearl necklaces to put on her dogs.
Mark Hedges, editor in chief, added: “They’re hilarious. The Duchess has got quite a good sense of humour.”
The Girls in Pearls page, formally known as the frontispiece, has appeared in every issue of Country Life since the first issue in January 1897.
The Duchess was invited to guest edit the next edition of the magazine – to be published on Wednesday – to mark her 75th birthday and the publication’s 125th anniversary.
In her capacity as guest editor, the Duchess meets a support group for rural victims of domestic abuse.
She writes: “It is incredibly moving, they are so brave these women because to actually get up and talk about it, when some of them sat on it for years and years , you know they’ve felt shame, they’ve felt guilty and to suddenly literally get up and start talking about it like they did is a very brave thing to do.” She goes on to tell one abused man: “I am very glad you’re here because I sometimes think men get a bit overlooked, I’ve met a lot of men who are survivors, I think people think: oh, it’s all women, it doesn’t happen to men, but it jolly well does.”
The Duchess, who also met anti-knife crime campaigners, adds: “I want to point out in the countryside it’s not all roses. Darker things happen in rural areas where they don’t get as much attention as they do in these big cities.
“I’m trying to help out by putting it into print.”
In what she admits is “a bit of nepotism”, the Duchess also chooses her husband the Prince of Wales as a champion of the countryside for his work highlighting the plight of farmers and the environment. Prince Charles himself guest edited Country Life, firstly for his 65th birthday in November 2013, and then for his 70th in 2018, when it became the biggest selling issue of all time. She confesses, however, that she had not enjoyed the task of putting down her thoughts about her husband for an article in the magazine, in which she describes him as “a countryman to his very core”.
“It’s not easy writing about your husband,” she told ITV. “I’ve been through several pencils.”
The Duchess herself is the cover girl, with a photograph of her make up free, smiling and relaxed sitting on a bench, taken by her daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge.
Camilla’s Country Life airs on ITV at 9pm on Wednesday.