Meghan Markle Had a Very Specific Request for Her British Vogue Photos

Meghan Markle recently added British Vogue editor to her list of many accomplishments after serving as the very first guest editor of the magazine's September issue. She titled the issue "Forces for Change" and focused the content on women she admires, including Laverne Cox, Jane Fonda, and New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. While Markle doesn't appear on the cover herself, the women she chose are front and center.

That wasn't the only big decision she was making behind the scenes. Photographer Peter Lindbergh, who shot Markle when she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in 2017, was hand-picked to shoot for the September issue by both the Duchess of Sussex and Vogue editor in chief Edward Enninful. According to Enninful, Lindbergh was the right choice for the job. “It was one of those brilliantly spontaneous moments when HRH The Duchess of Sussex and I had exactly the same idea at exactly the same time,” he said about the decision to hire Lindbergh. “Peter sees beauty in real people, in real situations. He makes everybody feel their best.”

In fact, Markle gave Lindbergh special instructions before the women had their pictures taken for the issue: She wanted to see their natural freckles.

Lindbergh told Vogue he was thrilled to hear that Markle wanted to keep things natural in the photos. “My instructions from the Duchess were clear: ‘I want to see freckles!’” he said. “Well, that was like running through open doors for me. I love freckles.”

It's no surprise that Markle wanted to celebrate natural beauty in the magazine, considering she's signaled that she prefers simple, stripped-back glamour. Her wedding look famously highlighted her natural glow—and let her freckles shine—and she's spoken before about how much she hates when images of her are photoshopped.

“To this day, my pet peeve is when my skin tone is changed and my freckles are airbrushed out of a photo shoot,” Markle told Allure in 2017. “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.’”

The September issue will be out on August 2 in all its freckled glory.

Originally Appeared on Glamour