How Kate's candid camera is killing off the paparazzi
This article first appeared in Your Royal Appointment, our weekly royals newsletter. Exclusively for subscribers, each newsletter includes a new column from Camilla Tominey, as well as all the latest royal updates. You can sign up via the My Newsletters section of My Account.
The Duchess of Cambridge's Royal Family album is fast rivalling Patrick Lichfield's.
Over the past few days, royal-watchers have been treated to some extraordinary images of life behind palace gates.
As well as photographing William larking about with their three children to mark his 38th birthday on Sunday, Kate also managed to capture a touchingly tender moment between two future kings.
Showing Charles affectionately resting his head on William's shoulder, huge smiles on both their faces, her picture could not be further removed from the stuffy royal portraiture of the past.
Yet what is even more remarkable than Kate's flourishing artistry is the effect it has had on royal photography in general. Releasing such intimate family photos so regularly to the press has killed, stone dead, the market for paparazzi shots.
Why would any newspapers or magazines want to run grainy long-lens images of the royals in private when they themselves are willing to serve up crystal clear Instagram-style shots?
Diana, the late Princess of Wales, could only have dreamed of such a scenario. And when you consider how fiercely protective William is of his family's privacy, you soon realise this is no accident.
As I first wrote in 2013, this unique form of royal image control has all been by design. At that time, I noted that Kate, then pregnant with Prince George, had been taking a close interest in the way European royals were managing the media with regard to photography of their children.
Conscious that the public would demand to see "at home" imagery of George – and later Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – but anxious not to thrust them into the limelight, the Duchess borrowed an idea from Victoria, the Crown Princess of Sweden.
Having grown up to be mistrustful of the press after they reported details of her anorexia when she was a teenager, Sweden's queen regnant resolved to do things differently when her first child, Estelle, was born a year before George in 2012.
She swiftly began releasing her own photographs of the baby to ensure that any imagery of Estelle was released on her own terms. The public reacted hugely positively, loving not only the fact that they could see such milestones as Estelle blowing out the candles on her first birthday cake but also that Victoria was behind the camera.
Already a keen amateur photographer – a hobby encouraged by her father, Michael Middleton – Kate decided she would do the same, rather than always relying on the services of a professional photographer.
Of course there still is, and always will be, a place for experienced lensmen and women to capture the big royal moments. However, it has always been these more candid camera shots that the public has craved.
I know experts may have an opinion on Kate's focus, use of lighting and so on, but when it comes to seeing the "real" royals behind their public personas, the Duchess is fast becoming the monarchy's leading chronicler of modern royal life.
