King Charles's explosive rows with royal photographer: 'At least I've got a job

There aren't many people who have managed to forge a close relationship with the royal family. But one man who has done just that is photographer Arthur Edwards.

A titan of his industry, Arthur, 86, has spent the last 50 years taking snapshots of the members of the monarchy, and in that time he has forged a connection with the likes of King Charles, Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and Prince Harry.

But he wasn't always a welcome face. By his own admission, Arthur had a "rocky" start with King Charles, owing to the fact he took a more aggressive approach to his job.

As the King himself recalled, when they met in 1976, Arthur was "crawling about in the undergrowth" all over the world in pursuit of members of the Royal family to photograph.

He was both a familiar face and something of a thorn in their sides, which led to a few memorable arguments with Charles.

In a new interview with the Telegraph ahead of the release of his book, Cup of Tea, Arthur? My Extraordinary 50 Years Photographing the Royal Family, he recalled one instance that still stands out in his mind. 

At one point in 1980, Arthur said he ended an argument by shouting "At least I’ve got a job!" at the then-Prince Charles, as he galloped away from him at Highgrove.

'A jolly good bloke'

Things have changed greatly since then. In a speech honouring Arthur in 2018, King Charles described him as "a very good photographer, a jolly good bloke and a very special person".

In later life, Arthur would send Queen Elizabeth II some of his photos each year, which she would paste into her diaries over her Balmoral summer holidays.

He had a playful relationship with Princess Diana, who was "not just a superstar but a megastar. But she was a nice megastar. She was fun," he told the publication.

The pair would tease each other: "Are you wearing that hat for a bet, Arthur?" she asked in 1991, when she spotted him wearing a tweed flat cap in the rain. Sarah Ferguson, meanwhile, gave him socks for Christmas with "No comment" embroidered on them.

'He calls me Arthur, and I call him Sir'

But he holds a special place for the King. "He calls me Arthur, and I call him Sir. It's a good arrangement. And that’s the way it will be until the day I die," he told the Telegraph.

"He's an extraordinary man, and one of the reasons I'm still working is because I like working with him, and I think he's pleased to see me when I turn up as well.

"He's a very humble man and you can't praise him. I once said to him why can't you take a compliment?

"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. I'm a kid from east London who didn't do too well at school, and he's given me a great life. And I suppose in return, he's got a fan for life, and that's me. He's a decent, decent man."

Cup of Tea, Arthur? My Extraordinary 50 Years Photographing the Royal Family by Arthur Edwards (£25, HarperCollins) is published on 5 November