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 Middleton is now 40-years-old but has never looked more effortlessly regal. The Duchess of Cambridge has released three new photos to celebrate the milestone taken by photographer Paolo Roversi. Kate can be seen wearing minimal make-up with her hair styled in beautiful curls.

In the images, she modelled three incredible gowns designed by Alexander McQueen.

Judi James, a body language expert, spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk about these new “powerful” photos.

She said: “The most powerful messages from these birthday portraits look primarily aimed at creating a sense of reassurance to the Queen that, given the ongoing turmoil in the royal Firm, she is ultimately leaving her legacy in a very safe pair of hands.

“Kate’s body language looks calm and quietly capable here and the styling makes her appear serene and stress-free.

“She hasn’t chosen to look like a moderniser or a creator of change: instead, like the Queen herself, Kate shows herself to be a champion of continuity with a very strong sense of her place in history.

“Despite Kate’s moments of red carpet dazzle, this is also a woman making little if any nods at the world of celebrity, vanity, conspicuous wealth or high fashion.

“The styling here would be more at home in the pages of Tatler or The Lady than Vogue and Elle.

“In what looks like another nod to both the Queen and her grandson William, there is also an emphasis on romance here.

“Two of the dresses are frothy and frilly and Kate sits with her long hair gently rippling in the breeze from a studio fan.

“One pose is almost bridal, with Kate making an emphatic display of her engagement ring and this ‘Barbara Cartland heroine’ look suggests enduring love and romance in her marriage, which again should be a relief to the Queen,” the expert noted.

In the picture of Kate in the white dress with her head turned to the left, Judi described it as a “Victorian wedding portrait”.

She continued: “This could almost be a Victorian wedding portrait, with Kate shot in profile to suggest a sense of destiny and even distance.

“It’s the most tentative body language of the three, with her elbows bent and her hands partly lost in the froth of the beautiful dress.

“Kate’s partial smile here involves closed lips and this, plus the slight narrowing of her eyes, suggests a dreamy or reflective state.

“It places her firmly into royal history with an eye on her destiny as future Queen.”

In the photo of Kate wearing the same dress but staring into the camera, Judi commented saying: “This is a more familiar version of Kate, sharing her smile with us as she looks straight into the camera.

“It shows off her perfect, symmetric smile although the very subtle head tilt and the one raised eyebrow remind us of her fun side, too.”

In Kate’s £3,450 Alexander McQueen asymmetric red dress, Judi said: “This is the most contemporary-looking shot, with the body language and the styling looking set to remind us of how Kate has grown from a rather discreet and sometimes tentative or cautious-looking bride to the far more confident and relaxed future Queen we can see today.

“This is a much more grown-up, womanly expression from Kate and the way she has stuffed her hands into the pockets of her very debutante-looking dress hints at a firmer and even more sassy version of the Duchess.

“The air of caution has gone, to be replaced by the facial expression of a calm, confident and even firm woman who seems to want to let us know she has finally grown into her role as an independent and successful royal in her own right.”

The portraits of Kate were taken at Kew Gardens in November by famed fashion photographer Paolo Roversi, and they will enter the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, of which Kate is patron, when it reopens in 2023.

Source: Read Full Article