Yahoo News Kate Middleton's Photography Skills on Display in Behind-the-Scenes Pic from Camilla's Shoot
Kate Middleton is at work!
The Duchess of Cambridge, 40, recently got behind the camera to take the cover shot of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall for the latest issue of British magazine Country Life — and now a behind-the-scenes shot gives a look at the piece of art in progress.
In an image taken by Camilla's country dresser Shona Williams, Camilla poses in the garden of her home Raymill in Wiltshire as Kate — dressed casually in a pink blazer, jeans and white sneakers — has her eye through the lens to capture the shot.
Kate is often behind birthday portraits of her three children — Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4 — and other family moments. The candid new photo offers the first-ever glimpse at the Duchess of Cambridge working behind the scenes.
According to The Telegraph, when it came time to discuss the cover image, Country Life editor Mark Hedges asked Camilla if she had any thoughts.
"She immediately replied, 'Oh, I'd quite like Catherine to do it,' " Hedges said.
Shona Williams Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Kate Middleton
"I spent the next three or four minutes desperately racking my brains trying to think of a professional photographer called Catherine. Then suddenly I grasped what she meant — one of the most amazing things that could happen," he continued. "I found it one of the easier things to nod my head at."
The final cover image shows Camilla seated on a bench with a basket filled with pelargoniums.
Camilla guest-edited the July issue to mark her 75th birthday and the magazine's 125th anniversary.
Chris Jackson - WPA Pool/Getty Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles at the premiere of No Time to Die in September 2021.
Hedges said in a statement that the magazine is "thrilled" with the images.
"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," Hedges said, "and we are honored to have been chosen to be the first to publish this beautiful photograph."
He added: "The photographs are superb and we would be delighted to offer The Duchess of Cambridge another commission!"
Kate's has even impressed professional photographers with her work.
Arthur Edwards, who has photographed the royal family since the 1970s, previously shared that he's a "great admirer" of Kate's snapshots.
"The picture that I love most that she's done is William and the three children on the swing," he said about the photo shared in June 2020 to celebrate Prince William's 38th birthday. "I would have killed to have taken that picture."
He continued, "Everybody's laughing at their mum, and you know that only a mother or a father could get that picture, and it's an absolute winner. Charlotte with her arm around daddy, you know, 'daddy's girl.' It's a lovely picture, I was so full of praise for her on that."
Edwards also praised Kate for the 2020 project in which she photographed Holocaust survivors with their grandchildren.
Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!
"I've recently photographed a Holocaust survivor and his family for an exhibition later this year at the Imperial War Museum, and I was kind of — not inspired by what she did, but I found out she spent two hours with the family beforehand, talking to them, getting to know them," he recalled. "She lit it beautifully and... it was just a lovely picture. And I told her that, and she said, 'Well, I've got a lot more to learn,' and I said, 'No, you've done a brilliant job.' "
The royal also encouraged others to pick up their cameras with her Hold Still photography project, which captured images of life in lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic. The 100 finalists were published in a book.
Claudia Acott Williams, the curator behind Kensington Palace's new photography exhibition Life Through a Royal Lens, recently revealed that it was a family member who first sparked Kate's interest in photography — the royal's paternal grandfather, Peter Middleton.
"Her grandfather was a very good photographer," Williams said, according to the Sunday Express. "When she was a child, he would show her his slides. It was him who taught her how to take photographs."
