This ^ is a photo of photographer Alexi Lubomirski attending the 2018 wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Alexi had already shot Harry and Meghan’s engagement portraits, and they asked him to be their wedding photographer too. He mostly does high-end fashion photography, and he’s got a new book and exhibition coming out, which is why he chatted with the Telegraph recently about what it’s like to photograph royalty, specifically the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Harry and Meghan actually worked with him after their wedding too – they asked him to photograph their family in 2021, for the Sussexes’ Christmas card that year. They’re still close to him, and he’s lovely about them (much to the chagrin of the Telegraph) Some highlights from his interview:

Working as the official photographer at the Sussexes’ wedding: It was one of the most stressful moments of his career, not least because courtiers had warned him in advance that Prince Philip wasn’t a fan of having his picture taken; equally, he had to corral 10 under-10s into looking at the camera. With the children proving to be a handful, Lubomirski, 47, eventually went up to the late Queen and promised he wouldn’t be more than five minutes; she smiled and said, “I’m not the one you need to worry about.” In the end, he got the shot by asking, “Who likes Smarties?” to the resounding response of “Me”.

Meghan apparently liked his Julia Roberts photos: Lubomirski has gone on to work with Julia Roberts numerous times for magazines including Elle, Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar – and allegedly, Meghan Markle hired him after seeing one of these shoots.

He loves photographing British people: Generally, British actors win in the fun stakes, and one of his favourite people to work with is Ewan McGregor, who is as happy to hop around on set in bunny ears as he is to pose in a suit. “I desperately miss how good British people are at laughing at themselves,” he says. “You quickly learn in America not to take the piss out of other people – whereas in Britain it’s a sign of rapport.”

He says Harry is a great amateur photographer too: Before collaborating with big-name subjects, Lubomirski finds points in common to chat about on set. With Harry, Botswana was the obvious choice – but it sounds like the Duke of Sussex was more interested in honing his burgeoning photographic skills. In fact, the Princess of Wales appears to have some competition on her hands. “Harry is really interested in photography,” says Lubomirski. “He takes a lot of great black and white pictures. I talked to him about different apps to use to create the perfect picture. I was definitely giving him ideas.”

The Sussexes’ engagement portraits: The prince-on-prince professional relationship began on the grounds of Windsor Castle in late 2017 when Lubomirski shot the all-important engagement images that would act as Meghan’s royal coming-out. “Every time they looked at each other I almost felt awkward. I kept thinking, ‘This is so intimate, should I even be here for this?’ Being around them was very intoxicating.’’ While the rest of the press pack was kept at arm’s length, he spent hours with them. “I’m cheesy and I love taking pictures of people in love.”

[From The Telegraph]

I am dying to see Harry’s photography. While he was promoting Spare, Bryony Gordon also noted that Harry had just completed a big display of black-and-white family photos. I imagine he photographs Meghan and the kids constantly. We saw that in the Netflix series too – the Sussexes love to document their love and their kids, and they’re sitting on a huge cache of family photos. Anyway, Alexi sounds like a nice guy who loves his job. While the Telegraph makes the most out of the fact that he was educated in posh British schools and he speaks with a British accent, Alexi lives in America and he mostly works there too.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images and Alexi Lubomirski for the Sussexes.