Camilla commissions Kate to take her picture for Country Life cover

The Duchess of Cornwall is the cover star of Country Life magazine after asking a photographer she knows well to take the image – the Duchess of Cambridge.

Camilla commissioned Kate after she was asked to guest edit the latest edition of the publication to mark her 75th birthday later this month as well as the magazine’s 125th anniversary.

Kate is a keen amateur photographer, regularly releases pictures she has taken of her children to mark their birthdays and is patron of the Royal Photographic Society.

The cover image shows a relaxed and smiling duchess wearing a blue and white floral dress and cardigan, sitting on a bench with a trug filled with pelargoniums, ready to be planted.

Another picture by Kate appears on the leader page and is an informal shot of Camilla walking through forget-me-nots at her country home.

Mark Hedges, editor-in-chief of Country Life magazine, said: “We are thrilled to have our guest editor captured so magnificently by royal photographer the Duchess of Cambridge.

“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 honoured 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!”

The duchess invited Kate to take a series of portraits in the gardens of Ray Mill House, Camilla’s retreat in Lacock in Wiltshire.

She bought the six-bedroom property, 17 miles from the Prince of Wales’ Highgrove, after her divorce from Andrew Parker Bowles in the mid 1990s.

The duchess is the fourth royal guest editor, following Charles, who has twice led the magazine – to mark his 65th birthday in November 2013 and his 70th in 2018, the biggest selling issue of all time.

In 2020, the Princess Royal masterminded the July 29 issue – another bestseller – to commemorate her 70th birthday.

The edition of Country Life edited by Camilla will be published on July 13.