Britain’s Queen Elizabeth put her photographer "at ease" when his camera malfunctioned.
The 89-year-old monarch posed for Hugo Rittson-Thomas in a unique four-way image – which used mirrors to capture her at different angles – but while he was horrified when his equipment had a "digital seizure", his subject remained "very calm and cool".
He said: "The camera had a digital seizure about two-thirds of the way into the shoot but she was very calm and cool and put me at my ease.
"My brain had just frozen but she started talking to me and I was able to fix the problem in two minutes. The roles were reversed and she was the one putting the photographer at ease."
The queen is seen smiling at the camera in the picture, and the photographer revealed he captured the happy portrait by asking how she would feel if she won the Epsom Derby – the one classic race she has so far failed to have a horse triumph in – and she instantly beamed.
The photograph forms part of the Queen’s People exhibition, which opens in London later this month and also includes her grandson, Prince William, who was captured in his uniform as Colonel of the Irish Guards, and daughter-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
Other subjects of the four-way exhibition pictures include Former Queen’s Piper Pipe Major Derek W. J. Potter, staff of the Royal Mews, York Herald Michael Peter Desmond O’Donoghue, Earl Marshal Edward William Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk, and Colonel Charles Webb of the Military Knights of Windsor.
The images form part of an exhibit of 50 formally posed portraits which will run from August 19 to September 19 at the Eleven gallery in London.
Queen Elizabeth put photographer at ease
