Loving snapshot of mother and brother taken by William at three
THE Duchess of Cambridge has, most recently, been considered the Royal Family’s resident photographer, releasing her own family snaps to mark important milestones.
Before her, the Queen was known to be a keen photographer, becoming a proficient user of the cine camera, as was Antony Armstrong-jones, the first Earl of Snowdon. But it seems such talent runs in the family, with the Duke of Cambridge proving himself to be rather adept behind the camera at the tender age of three.
An image of Diana, Princess of Wales, never seen before, showing her cradling a young Prince Harry on board the Royal Yacht Britannia, was taken by the Prince as a toddler.
The intimate family snap, found in a photograph album belonging to the princess, had been packed away and was only discovered by the princes earlier this year.
It was released as part of a new ITV documentary in which the brothers speak candidly about their mother for the first time, providing an incredibly intimate insight into family life.
In the programme to be broadcast tonight, the princes flick through their mother’s photo album, reflecting together, in public for the first time, on their memories and what she had meant to them.
The image taken by the young William, shows the princess sitting on the deck, cradling her youngest son, who appears keen to break free of her grasp. Another newly released image shows the boys dressed as policemen, wear- ing matching helmets, black ties, and utility belts with walkie-talkies.
While Harry poses confidently, hands on hips, his brother squints at the photographer, thought to be their mother.
The brothers laugh about the princess’s penchant for dressing them in “bizarre” costumes, which they admit leaves them bemused to this day.
Now aged 35 and 32, the brothers said they wanted to make the documentary to celebrate her life, remind people who she was and introduce her, in their own way, to a new generation.
They admit that talking so openly about their mother, the divorce and her death, had been “cathartic” but insist that they “won’t speak as openly or publicly about her again”.
The boys both express regrets about the last conversation they had with her on the phone in August 1997, cutting it short so they could go and play.
The Duke of Cambridge compared the news of her death to “an earth- quake” while Prince Harry revealed he had only cried twice since she died, admitting that “there’s a lot of grief that still needs to be let out”.
The brothers are understood to have personally called many of their mother’s closest friends and aides to ask them to take part in the documentary, that comes almost 20 years after her death. As a result, the film also features Earl Spencer, the Princess’s brother, Sir Elton John, who sang at her funeral, William Van Straubenzee, Lady Carolyn Warren and Anne Beckwith-smith, her lady-in-waiting.