Kate Middleton’s First Cover Shoot is for Vogue

British Vogue is celebrating its 100-year anniversary with one of the biggest fashion icons in Britain: Kate Middleton (who is also known as Her Royal Highness or HRH).

The Kensington Palace announced that the cover, which will hit newsstands Thursday, was a collaboration between British Vogue and London’s National Portrait Gallery. “The Duchess is incredibly grateful to the team for asking her to take part,” a spokesperson said. “British Vogue has given a platform to some of the most renowned photographers in this country’s history.”

London-born photographer Josh Olins shot the photos of The Duchess in the Norfolk countryside:

This marks the first time HRH has ever willingly taken portraits for a magazine. “She is on magazine covers all of the time,” wrote Vogue. “But before British Vogue, she’d never actually consented to one.”

Vogue.com contributing editor Michelle Ruiz predicts that this cover might be a symbol of HRH claiming her title as First Lady of Britain, “a position one could argue that a beloved royal woman hasn’t truly held since Princess Diana’s death.” Princess Diana has appeared on the cover of British Vogue four times (you can view them at vogue.co.uk).

“It may be wishful thinking, but I suspect Princess Kate’s first fashion shoot won’t be the last ‘first’ in this new chapter of her public life,” Ruiz wrote.