Italian photographer who clicked Kate's new portraits reveals behind-the-scenes stories

As Kate Middleton's fans continue to gush over her new portraits, the photographer behind the pictures is revealing how they came into being.

Paolo Roversi, an Italian photographer who clicked the images, has divulged details on his experience of working with the British royal. In a conversation with local newspaper Corriere della Sera, he revealed that the first meeting between them happened at her and Prince William's London residence Kensington Palace for a traditional 5 pm tea.

Roversi recalled that instead of him, it was the Duchess of Cambridge who was nervous about the meeting, because of his previous work with supermodels and A-list celebrities like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Sting, and Madonna to name a few. However, he assured her that it would all be easy once they start the session.

Kate had also come prepared with her own ideas for the session that took about four hours. The photographer recalled, "To give me an inspiration, Kate showed me some reproductions of pieces from the artists you're mentioning [Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Sir David Coyle Burne-Jones], but after all I've always been pre-Raphaelite."

Roversi had only words of praise for how the Duchess conducted herself during the shoot. He said, "She's a nice, welcoming woman, who puts you at ease, and respectful of everyone's work. She exudes joie de vivre (exuberant enjoyment). Open, generous, bright, I think she can bring a lot of hope to England and to the entire world."

While only three portraits from the session have made it to the public, as many as seventy were clicked but not published. Talking about their selection process, Roversi said, "The first selection was made by me, she had about ten that were her favourites, then we got to three favourites for me and one for her, the official picture [the profile one] is both my and her favourite."

Roversi noted that he wanted to capture Kate's persona in the portraits instead of her authority as the future Queen Consort of the United Kingdom. He said, "Everything [was done] under natural lighting. She had very little makeup, no hairdo, simple pearl earrings, a ring... The focal point of Kate's face are her eyes and her smile. I didn't want her too madam duchess, too establishment, but purer and as contemporary as possible, but also timeless".