Duchess of Cambridge danced a 'waltz mixed with rock 'n roll' in secret 40th birthday shoot

In public, at least, the Duchess of Cambridge is notoriously camera-shy.

But when it came to her 40th birthday shoot, initial apprehension appears to have given way to confidence as she allowed herself to be photographed dancing an “accelerated waltz mixed with a pinch of rock 'n roll”, it has emerged.

Italian photographer Paolo Roversi, who took a series of portraits to mark the landmark birthday, has revealed that he persuaded the Duchess to dance for him after she donned an organza Alexander McQueen dress that he thought evocative of a classical ballerina.

The series of images is likely to remain private, however.

While the Duchess has been photographed dancing in public a handful of times - notably with Paddington Bear at Paddington station in 2017 and alongside Prince William in Tuvalu in 2012 - she is far from a public performer.

By comparison, her late mother-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales, loved to dance and took private lessons. She famously danced alongside Wayne Sleep to Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl at the Royal Opera House in 1985 and earlier that year with John Travolta at a White House gala dinner.

Roversi revealed that he first met the Duchess in November at Kensington Palace, where he joined the Royal and her staff for tea and biscuits.

He told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: “At first the Duchess was apprehensive. She is machine-gunned by photographers every day but is not used to posing.

“Knowing my photos with models she was a little fearful of facing a real session, which required about four hours of work. But I reassured her that once we started it was going to be very easy. And so it was.”

The Duchess, who read history of art at St Andrew’s University and is passionate about photography, told Roversi she was particularly inspired by Julia Margaret Cameron, the pioneering female photographer of the 19th century and Alice in Wonderland author, Lewis Carroll.

She also showed Roversi works by Pre-Raphaelites Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones.

When it came to the shoot, which took place later that month in the Temperate House at Kew Gardens, Roversi revealed he used natural light and that the Duchess wore little make up.

“I didn't want her to look too Lady Duchess, too establishment, but as pure, as contemporary as possible,” he said. “Or even timeless.”

The photographer added that he thought the portrait he considered the “official” one - in which she is looking directly at the camera - was reminiscent of actress Claudia Cardinale as Angelica in Luchino Visconti’s 1963 film The Leopard.

“In the end I wanted to take pictures in motion, so with that wonderful wide skirt I made her dance in front of my lens, a kind of accelerated waltz mixed with a pinch of rock ‘n roll,” he said.

In December, the 250 shots were whittled down to 70. The Duchess then picked around ten, before Roversi chose his three favourites.

The “official” one was the one they both preferred, he said, but added that the Duchess was “less sure” than he was about the final choice.

The newspaper suggested that the Duke of Cambridge and their three children, Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three, chose the “official” sepia image as their favourite.

The pictures will enter the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery, of which the Duchess is patron.