Kate Middleton Shot the Cover Photo for a British Magazine
The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton was commissioned to shoot a portrait of her mother-in-law, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, for the front cover of Country Life magazine.
Kate used a Canon 5D Mark IV, with a 50mm f/1.2 lens attached. PetaPixel discovered that she shoots her images in RAW and is “handy” on Photoshop. The Duchess shot the image, taken in the gardens of Raymill, at 1/800 second on f/2.8 using natural light only at ISO 320.
Camilla is seated in the shot, smiling into the camera with a basket of flowers beside her. Another image, not shared by Country Life, is a candid picture of Camilla walking through the gardens, which is described as her “Wiltshire retreat.”
A behind-the-scenes photo of Kate working the camera as she took the portraits was captured by one of Camilla’s aides, Shona Williams.
“We are thrilled to have our guest editor captured so magnificently by royal photographer The Duchess of Cambridge,” says Mark Hedges, Editor in Chief of Country Life magazine.
“We understand this is the first time a formal portrait of The Duchess of Cornwall has been taken by The Duchess of Cambridge for a magazine and we are honored to have been chosen to be the first to publish this beautiful photograph.
“The photographs are superb and we would be delighted to offer The Duchess of Cambridge another commission.”
Princess Photographer
It’s no secret that Kate Middleton is an enthusiastic amateur photographer. She has previously shot her own official royal baby portraits and in 2019 was made patron of the Royal Photographic Society, taking over from Queen Elizabeth.
The Duchess’s lens work stretches back to when she would photograph stock for the website of her family’s business Party Pieces. And at university, her dissertation was on the photographic representations of childhood created by Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland.
Kate is clearly a fan of Canon, having worked with the previous iteration of the 5d, the Mark II. She’s also been seen using the Canon PowerShot G12. However, recently she switched to a Fujifilm X-T3 with a Fujifilm XF 23mm.
Image credits: HRH The Duchess of Cornwall photographed at Raymill, Wiltshire by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. For Country Life magazine special guest edit to mark HRH The Duchess of Cornwall’s 75th birthday.
