
The one thing Duchess Meghan asked while guest-editing British Vogue
By Sarah Walker
The Duchess of Sussex only had one request when guest editing the September issue of British Vogue: She didn’t want the editors to airbrush away freckles.
“My instructions from the Duchess were clear: ‘I want to see freckles!’” photographer Peter Lindbergh told the publication when he recalled the phone conversation he had with Meghan about the issue’s photoshoot.
“Well, that was like running through open doors for me. I love freckles,” he said.
It comes as no surprise that Meghan chose to work with Peter on this project. He photographed her for a 2016 Vanity Fair interview in which she discussed her romance with Prince Harry and proudly displayed her own freckles.
In 2017, she told Allure one of her greatest pet peeves is when magazines airbrush away the beauty marks.
“To this day, my pet peeve is when my skin tone is changed and my freckles are airbrushed out of a photoshoot," she told the publication. "For all my freckle-faced friends out there, I will share with you something my dad told me when I was younger: ‘A face without freckles is a night without stars.’”
MORE: The 15 women on the cover of Duchess Meghan’s issue of British Vogue
Creating the special collector’s edition of the magazine has been a passion project for the former- Suits star over the past seven months. Dubbed “Forces of Change,” it features 15 barrier-breaking women on its cover, including Christy Turlington and Jane Fonda, and includes candid conversations between the 37-year-old new mom and former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama and Dr. Jane Goodall.
MORE: Why there’s a blank space on Duchess Meghan’s Vogue cover
Other influential women featured in the magazine include Salma Hayek, model Adwoa Aboah, diversity advocate Sinéad Burke, The Good Place star Jameela Jamil, author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox, Crazy Rich Asians star Gemma Chan, Grown-ish and Black-ish star Yara Shahidi and teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg.
“These last seven months have been a rewarding process, curating and collaborating with Edward Enninful, British Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief, to take the year’s most-read fashion issue and steer its focus to the values, causes and people making impact in the world today,” the duchess said in a statement.
“Through this lens I hope you’ll feel the strength of the collective in the diverse selection of women chosen for the cover as well as the team of support I called upon within the issue to help bring this to light. I hope readers feel as inspired as I do, by the ‘Forces for Change’ they’ll find within these pages.”