Princess Kate Middleton’s photography passion began when she started taking birthday portraits for her three children.
Kate shares sons Prince George and Prince Louis and daughter Princess Charlotte with her husband, Prince William. To mark their kids’ birthdays each year, William and Kate release a new portrait. Eventually, Kate started taking the pictures herself, snapping shots of George, Charlotte and Louis in relaxed environments instead of more formal photo sessions.
Royal family photographer Samir Hussein told Us Weekly exclusively in May 2020 that Kate has a good eye.
“You can see from the pictures she takes that she’s better, certainly better than your average person on the streets,” Hussein told Us. “She’s got a good eye, and she’s a good photographer. I’m impressed by her pictures, absolutely.”
Kate’s budding talents also caught the eye of Queen Camilla, who enlisted the princess to take the cover photos for her 2022 profile in the U.K.’s Country Life magazine.
“She immediately replied, ‘Oh I’d quite like Catherine to do it.’ I spent the next three or four minutes desperately racking my brain trying to think of a professional photographer called Catherine,” editor Mark Hedges recalled in a statement. “Then suddenly I grasped what she meant — one of the most amazing things that could happen. I found it one of the easier things to nod my head at.”
Kate’s Country Life cover was the first formal portrait of Camilla that Kate has taken.
Nearly two years later in March 2024, Kate’s photo skills sparked backlash when royal watchers noticed that a family Mother’s Day photo appeared to be edited. Several news outlets subsequently pulled the image from their sites after claiming that the photo had been manipulated by the source.
Kate, calling herself an “amateur photographer,” later admitted to experimenting with photo editing software in a social media statement.
Keep scrolling to read everything Kate has said about her photography skills:
May 2020
During the coronavirus pandemic, Kate launched her Hold Still project with the National Portrait Gallery to demonstrate the “power of photography” during a challenging time.
“We’ve all seen some incredible images out there and heard some amazing stories — some desperately sad stories, but also some really uplifting ones as well,” she said during an appearance on the U.K.’s This Morning. “I really hope that through a project like this, we might be able to showcase some of those stories and to document and share a moment in time, I suppose, that we’re all experiencing.”
During the interview, Kate once again labeled herself as an “amateur” but still offered a few tips she’s picked up.
“I sort of learn on the way, but actually during this time [in lockdown], I spent lots of time picking up my camera and taking photos of the children because they’re always around us when we’re doing stuff together,” she added. “One of the fantastic things about photography is really capturing that moment so it’s not staged; it’s not setting it up perfectly; it’s not clearing your house away so you got a perfect studio setup but it’s really capturing those moments that feel real to you.”
June 2021
“Everyone’s like, ‘Mummy, please stop taking photographs!’” Kate joked during a video for Hold Still, referring to her three kids.
March 2024
After Kate’s Mother’s Day portrait sparked backlash over its alleged manipulation, she released a statement confirming how she had tweaked the pic.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” the princess wrote. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day.”
