Kate Middleton releases photographs to mark 40th birthday

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Kate personally reached out to royal fans who wished her a happy birthday by issuing a message she penned herself. In her brief statement, she also thanked one of her patronages, the National Portrait Gallery, and photographer Paolo Roversi who took the pictures released in the run-up to her milestone birthday. 

She wrote: “Thank you for all of your very kind birthday wishes, and to Paolo and the National Portrait Gallery for these three special portraits.”

Stressing she was the person behind the message, the tweet was signed off with the Duchess’ name’s initial, a ‘C’.

The tweet also included one of the three photographs released on Saturday evening by Kensington Palace. 

Mr Roversi took these stunning portraits in November at Kew Gardens. 

Speaking about the experience, he said meeting and working with Kate was a “true honour”. 

He added: “I was moved by her warmth and friendly welcome and enchanted by her shining eyes that reflected the loveliness of her soul and her smile showing the generosity of her heart.

“It was a profound and rich experience for me, an unforgettable moment.” 

Heaping praise on Kate, the photographer also called her a “wonderful person” who, “with her positive energy, can bring hope to the whole world.” 

The Duchess mentioned the National Portrait Gallery in her brief tweet because her latest three portraits will be included in the gallery’s permanent collection. 

They are also to take part in the ‘Coming Home’ exhibition, set to see several art pieces to be shown across the country in areas meaningful to the subjects portrayed. 

Kate’s three portraits will be shown in Berkshire, where her parents Michael and Carole live, St Andrews, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met and attended university, and Anglesey, where the Cambridges first lived as a married couple. 

Kate is believed to be spending her milestone birthday privately with her loved ones. 

The Duchess of Cambridge hasn’t been spotted in public since Christmas Day, when she attended the morning service at St Mary Magdalene Church with Prince William and their three children. 

The Cambridges spent the festivities at their home in Norfolk, where they were joined by a few members of Kate’s family. 

The Duke and Duchess have yet to resume their public duties – but are widely expected to return to work this coming week, following George, Charlotte and Louis’s return to school. 

The Duchess ended 2021 with a bang by stunning royal watchers with a surprise piano performance, included in the Together at Christmas event. 

Kate spearheaded the special Christmas carol concert, which took place at Westminster Abbey on December 8, to thank unsung heroes of the pandemic – people who have gone above and beyond to help their neighbours and communities. 

The concert was also attended by royal patronages, some of the most impressive people met by William and Kate during their engagements and fellow royals. 

The event was later aired by ITV on Christmas Eve, and also presented a clip during which the Duchess accompanied on the piano singer Tom Walker in a rendition of For Those Who Can’t Be Here. 

While Kate was known to be able to play the piano, she had never performed for the public before. 

Following the broadcast, Walker spoke about working closely with the Duchess, saying: “We got together, we rehearsed the song like nine times and by the end of it she’d absolutely nailed it, and then she went away for a couple of days and practised it, and then we finally got to do the recording of it.

“And I was really impressed because it’s one thing playing along with me in a studio, just the two of us, but then to jump straight in to playing with a live string quartet and a pianist and two backing singers.”

He added: “I think we were both really nervous that it wasn’t going to go quite to plan and one of us would let down the other person or whatever, but she was absolutely fabulous – she smashed it.”

Source: Read Full Article