‘You needed to be on the ball… that made her special to photograph’
They followed her throughout their careers and she became a firm fixture in their lives. Here, ten top royal photographers pay tribute to Her Majesty as they pick their two favourite pictures of her and tell us the stories behind the images.
Whether at work or at leisure, at home or overseas, these lovely shots illustrate our late monarch’s dedication to duty, her ability to rise to any occasion — and her precious gift of laughter
JOHN STILLWELL
Inspecting the guard of honour outside Canadian Parliament, 2010
“I love the colours in this picture – the reds, the green roofs of the parliament in Ottawa behind and the blue sky. I had to kneel down to get that angle. The Queen looks so tiny next to the soldier in the busby. She enjoyed inspecting the military – they were always respectful and looked their best, and she’d been brought up with that.
“I photographed her for 35 years and remember being very nervous the first time. But as time went on, we used to have a little chat. One day I was waiting for a dignitary to meet the Queen who was late. Out of the window I saw they were putting up the marquees for a garden party. I said: ‘There are a lot of strange men in your garden, your Majesty, ’ and she laughed and said: ‘They work so hard.’ Eventually the dignitary turned up, looking embarrassed. I found out afterwards that he’d got so nervous [about meeting her] he’d gone to the toilet – but had got locked in.”
With the Duke of Edinburgh, Melbourne, 2011 (inset below)
“You can see thousands of people outside the window, but I like the fact that the Queen and the Duke are just sitting there, looking the other way.
“I had wanted to
