Photo mum’s royalties!
Amateur set to make fortune from iPhone shot of royals on Xmas Day
PROFESSIONAL photographers would give anything to have taken a picture like this.
But as dozens of pros jostled to get the perfect snap of the Royal Family leaving church on Christmas Day, their efforts were trumped by amateur Karen Anvil – who’s never even owned a proper camera.
Now her stunning image of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry has been seen around the world.
As the royalties started to pour in yesterday, the single mother said she would use the money to pay for her 17-year-old daughter’s university studies.
Miss Anvil, 39, has been interviewed by the US news channels CBS and ABC after her ‘lucky snap’ appeared on the front pages of five national newspapers yesterday, including the Mail.
Although she was pleased with her photograph, taken outside St Mary Magdalene Church at Sandringham, Norfolk, she had no idea of the furore it would cause after she posted it online.
Miss Anvil, who could earn tens of thousands of pounds from the image, said: ‘It was pure luck really – just a lucky snap. Everyone was going a bit giddy and we shouted “Merry Christmas” as they walked past, then the four of them happened to look over and smile at the perfect moment.
‘It was only taken on an iPhone – not even one of the most recent models.’
Miss Anvil, from Watlington, Norfolk, posted the photo to her Twitter account, which had just 15 followers.
But it was then shared thousands of times, with dozens of media outlets asking for permission to publish it.
‘I had hardly any followers, mostly just family members, and I’m not a big Twitter user at all,’ she said.
‘At first I said, “Of course, anyone can use the photo”. But lots of people, including a royal photographer, messaged saying I should keep the copyright. I’m a country mouse, I live every day in wellies, so I don’t know about selling pictures to the media and had no clue what I was doing.
‘I was eventually put in touch with someone who is handling it all for me.
‘The whole thing was absolutely amazing – my daughter and I have never been so popular in our lives.’
Miss Anvil, a training and development administrator at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, also works as NHS receptionist on Friday evenings. Her daughter, Rachel, is a nursing and paramedic student at the College of West Anglia and is doing work experience at the same hospital.
Although Miss Anvil has no idea how much money she will earn from the picture, experts estimate it could eventually be a five-figure sum.
She added: ‘I want to be able to pay for Rachel’s studies. I want to be able to do whatever I can to help her.
‘Also, I’ve never been abroad before and have only just got my first passport. I’ve got my first trip abroad to Ireland to see a concert next year, but it would be amazing to be able to take Rachel to New York for her 18th birthday next December.’ Miss Anvil, who went to Sandringham at 8.15am with her daughter, said: ‘Some people arrived at 2am, but we were a little bit more chilled out than that!
‘With Meghan there it’s a new chapter, so I wanted to be able to tell the grandkids we were there. It’s just on our doorstep so we thought we should go.’
Miss Anvil, who only posted the photo to Twitter after logging on to the app to check the spelling of Miss Markle’s first name, said she spent most of Christmas Day dealing with Press enquiries about the image, adding: ‘I wasn’t great company on Christmas Day.’
‘It was just a lucky snap’