Duchess of Cambridge 40th birthday photographs

[eternalopt]

Pictures released of the Duchess for her 40th - she looks amazing! Love her hair like that www.independent.co.uk/life-style/royal-family/kate-middleton-duchess-cambridge-photos-birthday-b1989379.html?amp

She is naturally very beautiful .So dont know why the photos look so different .I had to check as didnt recognise her ! They are nicely done ,but seem a little too much somehow

They're very odd pictures. Look so old-fashioned. And how have they got her hair to look so stringy and dry?

They are lovely photos but they don’t look anything her. She’s very beautiful woman and I don’t think they do her justice.

A beautiful woman indeed, but only one of the pics looks vaguely like her. I would love to be tested... and seen these photos without knowing it was her. Would I have said "aaaah, there's Kate".
Not sure.

I am finding some of the comments ridiculous like the photographer saying 'her positive energy can bring hope to the whole world'. What nonsense.
There are wonderful people out there who can bring hope to the world but that's just laughable.
I watched a wonderful clip of Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama together. It was so funny, moving and brought a tear to my eye. That's hope AFAIC

Anyway, I digress... a beautiful woman in iconic pictures that will forever be Kate at 40. That's it really!

The photographer’s statement is bit OTT though. Gushing, to say the least!

They really do look like 80s shopping mall shots! There is no need to do pictures like that, we know what she looks like, she certainly doesn’t need airbrushing, soft focus, or photoshop. I am surprised she would want that type or photo as she has been someone who embraces natural style photography.

The third picture is most like Kate as she normally presents. The red dress picture - I looked at her face in greater detail and then you see Kate as she is but in full portrait mode. I like the red dress one, love the pockets and it has a sense of movement to it, I can imagine a lots of skirt swishing going in in the rest of the shoot. I think in time that will be the remembered one. They will be hung in a gallery so don’t need to be on trend social media shots.

The first two look nothing like her .
I thought the red dress one was a picture of the photographer to go with the article.

I don’t think they are very good as photographs

Also she looks better in shots that look like her

She looks beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Happy birthday Kate!

I’ve never thought she was very beautiful - it’s a weird narrative around the ‘important’ royal women - like Diana. She is very nice looking and tops it up with all the extras money can help with. The photos are really odd - first two don’t look like her. Last one does, you can see her distinctive cheeks.

@Samcro

just saw them on the news, doesn't look like her. maybe photoshopped. weird as she always looks so lovely in photos normally.

All photos are "photoshopped" in some way. No photographer will use the RAW file. It's how professional photography works.

If they were pictures of a model advertising something I would think they are fine. However as portraits they look washed out and staged compared to all the candid photos that have been taken over the years.

The one where she’s sitting down in the frock in particular is very reminiscent of the work of Julia Margaret Cameron. As a longtime student of photography and art I’m guessing that Kate wanted to create something with layers of allusion to past works of portraiture - in other words, a piece of art.

Could it be a past, present and future view of the monarchy ?

I’m kind of getting that vibe from the 3 very different style of photos.

She looks amazing albeit quite different

@youngestisapsycho

It said some of the comments weren’t in the spirit of mumsnet… so I assume some nasty things were being said 🤷🏼‍♀️

I didn’t see any nasty comments when I last looked at it. Someone said something unnecessarily nasty about Meghan, when no one else had mentioned her, but that was it.

@youngestisapsycho

I started a thread last night with the pics and this morning have found it has been deleted!

I posted on that thread

Yes, different from how we normally see her, but I didn't read the blurb, and I believe it was a fashion photographer. They look good.
I think perhaps a gentle wind machine was used. Is she patron of the National Portrait Gallery? Makes sense. It's a place I have often dropped into. Will they be there eventually? I'll check.

I always admire Kate's and Meghan's eye make-up. I can believe they might have help sometimes but I think they must be fairly good at doing their own.

I thought they were lovely, formal photos and had a look of the 1930/40's "Gone with the Wind' about them. KM was obviously pleased with them and that is what matters.

Guess they just want gushing approval posts.

She doesn’t look like herself in the red dress photo - something about the nose area? Crazy that they’ve photoshopped it to this extent when she is naturally very pretty!

Wonderful, regal photos though.

Controversial opinion, but I don’t like them. They’re photos I would expect in a magazine from a celebrity, not Kate who has always maintained herself very differently. It could be the start of the Royals heading into a more modern direction to be fair, but I think the photos let her down.

I like the Victorian style one as it's quite dramatic. Also like the one in the red dress (love a dress with pockets and I bet it was a fun dress to wear). The photographer has a slightly strange style so I'm not keen on the 3rd one.

Do I think they could have been better? Yes definitely, but they aren't my photos.

[quote BringBackThinEyebrows]@AnnunciataZ I was on the thread. There were several posts attacking Kate personally. Sadly lots of offensive comparisons regarding the style of photography that went far beyond 'soft-focus, a bit 80s' too.

I think the photos are gorgeous. Happy birthday Kate [/quote]
But those were (a) accurate IMO, and (b) critical of the photography, not the subject.

The one in the red dress looks as if her head has been photoshopped badly to a different angle, as the shadows are wrong.

It's the lack of visible makeup that throws people off.

I think they went for the minimal look so the photos are more timeless and not tied to particular makeup trends. This is why it doesn't "look" like Kate, because she wears makeup and has changed her look through the years.

She's more herself in these photos, not the made up Kate but the stripped down Kate.