“She loves the country life, but it won’t be just horses and dogs and lovely countryside,” said a source of the Duchess’s plans for the issue.

“There is that slightly confronting side of the difficult issues the countryside faces. She wants to have a bit more about the challenges facing people, particularly for women.”

The Duchess will be the third royal guest editor of the magazine. She follows the Prince of Wales, who edited Country Life to mark his 65th birthday in November 2013 and his 70th in 2018. The latter became the biggest-selling issue of all time.

In 2020, the Princess Royal oversaw a best-selling issue to commemorate her 70th birthday.  

Each used its pages to make the case for some of their most strongly held views, from organic farming to the importance of hedgerows to the personal mantra of “waste not, want not”.

Highlighting charity work

Mark Hedges, the editor of Country Life, said: “It is a great honour that the Duchess of Cornwall has agreed to guest edit Country Life in July. Her Royal Highness is a passionate countrywoman and we are delighted that she follows her husband in presiding over this commemorative edition.”

The Duchess is expected to celebrate her love of animals and cooking in the commemorative issue. She is the owner of two Jack Russell terriers, Beth and Bluebell, and is a patron of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

“The edition will also focus on the work of the Duchess as patron of over 90 charities, from Barnardo’s to The Royal School of Needlework and The Royal Society of Literature,” a spokeswoman for the Duchess said.

Tom Parker Bowles, the Duchess’s son and a food writer for the magazine, joked that he hoped his new boss would not be too heavy handed in her edits to his articles.