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Kate Middleton's behind the scenes pictures from her new photography project are so lovely

Olivia Blair
·5-min read
Photo credit: Max Mumby/Indigo - Getty Images
Photo credit: Max Mumby/Indigo - Getty Images

From Prima

Keen amateur photographer Kate Middleton has leant her budding skills to an important project to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

On Sunday, 26 January – one day before the memorial day which marks 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp – new photos taken by the Duchess of Cambridge were released on Instagram.

Both photos are of Holocaust survivors, who moved to the UK in the 1940s, and their family.

The first is of Steven Frank with his granddaughters Maggie and Trixie. Per the Kensington Royal Instagram account, Steven was sent to the Westerbork camp in the Netherlands and then Theresienstadt as a child. He and his brothers were three of 93 children who survived the camp where 15,000 children were sent.

View this post on Instagram

As part of the commemorations for the 75th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust, The Duchess of Cambridge has taken photographs of two Holocaust survivors with their grandchildren. The first photograph features Steven Frank with his granddaughters, Maggie and Trixie. Alongside his mother and brothers, Steven was sent to Westerbork transit camp then to Theresienstadt. Steven and his brothers were 3 of only 93 children who survived the camp - 15,000 children were sent there. The Duchess also photographed Yvonne Bernstein with her granddaughter Chloe. Yvonne was a hidden child in France, travelling in the care of her aunt and uncle and frequently changing homes and names. The Duchess said: “I wanted to make the portraits deeply personal to Yvonne and Steven – a celebration of family and the life that they have built since they both arrived in Britain in the 1940s. The families brought items of personal significance with them which are included in the photographs. It was a true honour to have been asked to participate in this project and I hope in some way Yvonne and Steven’s memories will be kept alive as they pass the baton to the next generation.” The portraits will form part of a new exhibition opening later this year by @holocaustmemorialdaytrust, Jewish News and @royalphotographicsociety , which will feature 75 images of survivors and their family members. The exhibition will honour the victims of the Holocaust and celebrate the full lives that survivors have built in the UK, whilst inspiring people to consider their own responsibility to remember and share the stories of those who endured Nazi persecution. Portraits ©The Duchess of Cambridge

A post shared by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Jan 26, 2020 at 2:05pm PST

The Duchess also took pictures of Yvonne Bernstein and her granddaughter Chloe.

In another post on Instagram, Kate can be seen talking to and laughing with Yvonne behind the scenes of the project and chatting to Steven and his granddaughters.

View this post on Instagram

Today is #HolocaustMemorialDay, which takes place each year on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and honours survivors of the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution, and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Earlier this month, The Duchess of Cambridge met two Holocaust survivors, Steven Frank and Yvonne Bernstein, as she took photographs for a project by @holocaustmemorialdaytrust, Jewish News and @royalphotographicsociety to mark 75 years since the end of the Holocaust. The Duchess’s photographs will be included in an exhibition of 75 images of survivors and their family members, which will open later this year. “The harrowing atrocities of the Holocaust, which were caused by the most unthinkable evil, will forever lay heavy in our hearts. Yet it is so often through the most unimaginable adversity that the most remarkable people flourish. Despite unbelievable trauma at the start of their lives, Yvonne Bernstein and Steven Frank are two of the most life-affirming people that I have had the privilege to meet. They look back on their experiences with sadness but also with gratitude that they were some of the lucky few to make it through. Their stories will stay with me forever.” – The Duchess of Cambridge Photographs © Kensington Palace

A post shared by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Jan 27, 2020 at 2:07am PST

"Despite unbelievable trauma at the start of their lives, Yvonne Bernstein and Steven Frank are two of the most life-affirming people that I have had the privilege to meet," the Duchess of Cambridge said in a statement.

"They look back on their experiences with sadness but also with gratitude that they were some of the lucky few to make it through. Their stories will stay with me forever."

The photos, which were part of a joint project by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Jewish News and the Royal Photographic Society, will be exhibited alongside 75 images of survivors and their families later this year to mark 75 years since the end of the Holocaust.

Photo credit: Pool/Samir Hussein - Getty Images
Photo credit: Pool/Samir Hussein - Getty Images

Kate is known to be an artist behind the lens and regularly takes photos of her children George, Charlotte and Louis to mark their birthdays. Most recently, she captured her husband, Prince William at a glacier in the Hindu Kush mountain range during their official royal visit to Pakistan.

Last year, due to her love of the hobby, the mother-of-three was handed a new patronage of the Queen for the Royal Photographic Society.

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