Kate Middleton is the picture of country chic in new photographic portraits released Saturday.
The photographic portraits are to be displayed as part of the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and are also featured as part of a wider shoot for British Vogue's centenary June 2016 issue, which will hit newsstands on May 5. Kate is pictured in her jacket, blouse and hat in a color photos on the cover. This marks the first magazine shoot she has ever consented to.
The images show her wearing casual clothes in the countryside in Norfolk, where she and husband Prince William maintain 10-bedroom country home, Anmer Hall, in addition to their lavish apartment at Kensington Palace in London. Kate leans on a wooden fence while wearing a red and black striped sweater and black pants in one photo. The other is a black and white close-up that shows the Duchess of Cambridge wearing a black hat, white blouse and brown jacket.
She is set to visit the National Portrait Gallery, of which she has been a royal patron since 2012, on Wednesday.
"Since 1916, Vogue has been a leading champion of British portraiture," a spokesperson for the Duchess of Cambridge said in a statement to E! News. "The Duchess was delighted to play a part in celebrating the centenary of an institution that has given a platform to some of the most renowned photographers in this country's history. She is incredibly grateful to the team at Vogue and at the National Portrait Gallery for asking her to take part."
Photographer Josh Olins shot the portraits.
"Josh has captured the Duchess exactly as she is—full of life, with a great sense of humor, thoughtful and intelligent, and in fact, very beautiful," Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, said in a statement to E! News.
"Not only do they reflect her love of the countryside, interest in photography and championing of the National Portrait Gallery as our very committed patron, but they also encapsulate what Vogue has always done so brilliantly—to pair the best photographers with the great personalities of the day, in order to reflect broader shifts in culture and society," he said. "We had fun in making and choosing these images, and I hope that comes across."
"The Duchess had never taken part in a photography shoot like this before," Kate's spokesperson added. "She hopes that people appreciate the portraits with the sense of relaxed fun with which they were taken."