Sussex-based royal photographer Henry Dallal, who took portraits of the Queen for over 20 years, including for her 96th birthday and Platinum Jubilee celebrations, remembers the 'warm, funny' monarch
Of all the many pictures royal photographer Henry Dallal took of the Queen over their 20-year working relationship, it is the last – an unofficial, slightly blurry snapshot – that he insists ‘perfectly captures her.’
Constantly referring to Her Majesty, who died peacefully at Balmoral on September 8 at the age of 96, in the present tense because he ‘simply can’t believe that she’s really gone’ he describes how he took the picture of her beaming at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
‘My wife had broken her leg and I was photographing the event so I took my eight-year-old son, Cyrus with me,’ he explains in an exclusive interview with Sussex Life. ‘We were about 10ft away from the Queen when she was leaving the royal box after the show.
‘She was walking out and for some reason Cyrus caught the Queen’s eye and she looked at us and beamed. It’s just a snapshot but it shows her warmth. I had no idea that it would be the very last picture.’
Henry, who lives in Charlton, near Goodwood, West Sussex, is clearly still in shock at the news of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch’s death.
‘I’ve been so privileged to know and be invited to take photographs of the Queen,’ he says. I’ve had to pinch myself. This woman is one of the most famous people in the world and I’m taking her photograph because of our common bond – a love of horses.’
Indeed, it was Henry’s photograph of Queen Elizabeth II with two of her fell horses, Bybeck Nightingale and Bybeck Katie, in the grounds of Windsor Castle for her 96th birthday that was beamed around the world. It is still his favourite picture.
‘That one is really special,’ says the man who also took pictures of her Golden and Diamond Jubilee celebrations as well as official and private portraits.
‘The Queen was amazing to photograph,’ he adds. ‘When it was an official portrait, she knew how to come in and get the job done, but she was a warm person and knew how to put people at ease.’
As recently as July, the Queen displayed her humour at a photoshoot at Windsor Castle with more than 50 staff in the Royal Mews, which is in charge of transporting the sovereign. ‘When she arrived there was a stony silence,’ Henry recalls. ‘After a couple of shots, the Queen suddenly said: ‘So, are we not having fun?’ The entire team cracked up and relaxed and then I got some great pictures.’
Henry, who was born in Iran and moved to America after the revolution before arriving in London in 1994, had unparalleled access to the Queen for a book on the Royal Mews he is compiling. ‘I had her blessing on the book and was able to be inside the Mews for the Platinum Jubilee, and all the early morning rehearsals – it was unique and I am so glad I was able to capture it all.’
Now he will be taking photographs of the state funeral and the coronation of King Charles III. ‘They are important historic events that need to be in the book,’ he says. ‘The Royal Mews is in charge of all the transport for the sovereign which includes the horses, the Bentleys, the gold state coach, the cars – everything.’
He sighs, realising suddenly that he will be photographing the Queen’s last journey. ‘I still don’t believe it,’ Henry says. ‘I went on holiday to Turkey and on the way back, which took six hours, I had a weird feeling.
‘I was in Iran during the revolution and my parents were in London. They saw all the images on the news which were awful and they were apprehensive about coming back as they didn’t know what to expect.
‘I had the same feeling. We had just had the transition from Boris Johnson to Liz Truss as the new prime minister and the energy crisis, horrible inflation, and I was anxious about what we were going to find when we landed.
‘We touched down at 5.45pm and I turned on my phone and a friend of mine from France had whatsapped me saying that the Queen had died. I just fell apart on the plane.
‘I don’t know how my friend knew as it hadn’t been announced in Britain but I was in shock. It’s very sad. She hadn’t looked ill or frail when I had last seen her and perhaps that’s a blessing that it happened quickly and she didn’t deteriorate.’
Now Henry hopes to continue his long-standing relationship with the royal family and the new monarch, King Charles III who he photographed at the Climate Change Conference in Paris.
‘There will be a huge void in all of our lives,’ he says. ‘I was lucky to be invited to take the Queen’s portrait and I have some wonderful memories and photographs. Now I hope to be asked to take the new monarch’s picture. I would like to create a working relationship with His Majesty as I did with the Queen. It would be an honour to photograph him as it was his mother.’
