UK royal Kate given photographic society's seal of approval

Britain's Duchess of Cambridge, whose pictures of her children Prince George and Princess Charlotte have graced the front pages of newspapers and magazines worldwide, was commended on Tuesday by the Royal Photographic Society for her family snapshots.

Kate, the wife of Queen Elizabeth's grandson Prince William, was given honorary lifetime membership of the charity in recognition of her "talent and enthusiasm".

Her photographs, the first official portraits to be taken by a member of the royal family, have included shots of George holding his younger sister and of the young prince on his first day at nursery school.

"The Duchess of Cambridge has had a long-standing interest in photography and its history," said Michael Pritchard, chief executive of the society which was formed in 1853 and counts Elizabeth's great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert among its early patrons.