Royal Photographer Decodes Princess Diana’s Charisma During Royal Photo Ops

Princess Diana always made sure she looked staggeringly beautiful and poised in most of her royal photo ops, something which contributed to her unimaginable popularity across the world.

The People’s Princess was known for her welcoming aura, which made her a favourite among royal photographers too.

During a recent interview with Us Weekly, royal photographer Tim Rooke looked back at what made Diana such a joy to photograph at royal events.

He explained, “Often, what we do can be very boring. It can be someone walking from a car into a doorway. … What the Princess of Wales used to do, she would always just turn before she went into the building, so she’d just look at you at the last second, and it always produced great pictures. I think I did a picture of her, it was on her 36th birthday, which sadly was her last birthday, and she went to the Tate Gallery and there was a reception. She just turned, just before she went in, and it made an absolutely great picture.

“Whereas now, the younger royals do it slightly differently. They tend to talk to the person that’s greeting them, which is, of course only polite, but of course, with her, it was great because you always knew you’d get a picture,” Rooke added.

He also went on to describe Diana as a person.”She was a very warm person,” he said. “She was great to photograph.”

After her tragic demise, Rooke continued clicking pictures of the royal family, of Prince Charles in particular.

“I spent years photographing the Prince of Wales, particularly after Princess Diana died. He’s actually great for taking pictures with. He’ll put hats on and do all sorts of things,” he said.