Photographer Arthur Edwards, 86, has been trailing the royal family for half a century, a pursuit that has taken him to 120 countries, seven royal weddings and landed him on the bad side of King Charles.
‘I’ve had some storming rows with the King,’ Edwards told The Telegraph, 'where he’s screaming at me.’
Edwards' new memoir, Cup of Tea, Arthur?, traces 50 years of royal history documented by the longest-serving royal photographer on Fleet Street, who admits that in the early days of his career he had a direct approach.
He invoked the wrath of the then-Prince Charles’ by snapping his bald patch in 1977 and the pair had a dispute in 1980 at Highgrove about whether Edwards was on a footpath or the royals' private land.
As King Charles galloped away, Edwards ended the argument by shouting, ‘At least I’ve got a job!’
Arthur Edwards catching up with the King on a visit to Tattershall Castle in 2018
Since taking his first photograph of King Charles feeding his polo pony a Polo mint in 1976, he has built relationships with the whole family and witnessed the drama of their lives first hand.
He was the first to photograph Lady Diana Spencer and revealed that she was the girl the Prince of Wales would marry.
After the engagement was announced and Edwards sent his congratulations, King Charles joked back: 'I trust you won’t be made redundant.'
He also had a cheeky run-in with the then Prince Andrew while collecting his MBE in for outstanding service to newspapers in 2003.
When asked what the initials award stood for, Edwards fired back: ‘Much Bigger Expenses!’
However, he said that he's realised the secret to his longevity in the business is having good manners.
Edwards told ABC: 'I started off thinking I didn’t care what happened, it was all about getting the shot. I wouldn’t dream of doing that now, I respect him [the King] too much.'
In his memoir, he shares more than 100 of his favourite photos of the royal family and his stories of capturing them, after his mother saved money from her job as a cleaner to buy him his first camera.
Nowadays, Edwards and the King have a much fonder relationship, with the King even honouring him in as 'a very good photographer, a jolly good bloke and a very special person', in a speech at his 70th birthday celebration at Spencer House.
Edwards praised King Charles for fulfilling his role in the royal family. He said: 'I think he does embrace the job better than anybody, any of the others. He’s tireless. He’s like the Duracell bunny: he just never stops.'
A case in point is the 77-year-old King's schedule for the week ahead, when he and Queen Camilla, 79, fly to The Bahamas to commence their Autumn Tour of the Caribbean.
The visit precedes the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Antigua and Barbuda, and is designed to celebrate communities and cultures in the Commonwealth.
His majesty has recently come under scrutiny after Earl Spencer, the late Lady Diana Spencer's brother, released a searing memoir accusing him of hurtful behaviour after Diana's death, including making the comment 'we will forget her soon enough.'
The book's first astonishing extract made headlines around the world and is dividing society, with support on both sides.
Announcing the book last month, Earl Spencer said that, ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana's death next year, he wanted to write down his own thoughts and memories 'rather than having the discomfort of again reading the opinions of others'.
This prompted Buckingham Palace to issue an unprecedented statement, with royal aides questioning the veracity of his account and suggesting that grief can 'cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory'.
When Laura Kuenssberg suggested the Palace's statement showed the King was 'plainly furious', Earl Spencer replied: 'Is he furious or is he embarrassed?'
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has backed the King in an interview with BBC Newsnight, saying: 'I have a side and it's always on the side of His Majesty.'