Royal photograph released for Duchess of Cornwall’s 70th birthday
Written by News on 17/07/2017
A new photograph of the Duchess of Cornwall with the Prince of Wales has been released to mark her 70th birthday.
The picture was taken by photographer Mario Testino and shows the couple standing close together and smiling in the Morning Room at Clarence House.
Mr Testino is well-known for his photographs of Princess Diana, but has regularly been the photographer of choice for other members of the Royal family.
He said: "I first photographed the Duchess after her wedding to the Prince on a commission from British Vogue in 2006 and discovered a kind and beautiful person with a wonderful sense of humour.
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"Doing this latest assignment to celebrate Her Royal Highness’s 70th birthday is a true honour."
Camilla turns 70 on Monday and on Saturday night Prince Charles invited family and close friends to a party for his wife on his Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire.
It is an occasion that has led many newspapers and commentators to reflect on the Duchess’ position within the Royal family and how the public now feel about her.
Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty Magazine, said: "The public were doubtful about Camilla and that’s one of the reasons their marriage was, for a royal wedding, low-key.
"What she did was very gently introduce herself into royal life, so to start with she did very few engagements, she was just at Prince Charles’ side so people could see she was supportive of him.
"She always did charity work but it was very low profile, and then she took on some perhaps less glamorous charities, and very, very slowly she just was herself and people saw what a nice lady she is."
In the past decade Camilla has become an important part of the upper tier of the Royal family – she carries out Royal duties on behalf of the Queen and was also made a privy councillor by her mother-in-law.
Her charity work focuses on issues such as literacy, animal welfare and osteoporosis, but more striking is her involvement with rape crisis and domestic violence charities and the support she has given to campaigns against human trafficking and female genital mutilation.
(c) Sky News 2017: Royal photograph released for Duchess of Cornwall’s 70th birthday
