GLANCING across the polo pitch, Arthur Edwards’ eyes land on the golden ‘D’ hanging around the young woman’s neck.
He approaches the shy young girl and after asking politely she agrees to pose for a photo, an image that would later go down in history.
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It was the Sun’s royal photographer’s very first photograph of Lady Diana Spencer, then 19.
But rather than hitting the front page, the iconic portrait spent weeks in a drawer.
“Although I was told by royal equerries that Lady Diana Spencer was Prince Charles’ new girlfriend, I had a hard time believing it,” Arthur says.
“He was 32 at the time and I remember thinking ‘he’s not running around with teenagers.’”
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However, six weeks later and by pure coincidence Arthur had their relationship confirmed.
FURIOUS PRINCE
Speaking as part of Life Stories, The Sun’s YouTube series that features ordinary people who have had extraordinary lives, he explains: “I was driving along the River Dee up in Balmoral to the Braemar Games and I saw Prince Charles fishing and next to him was Diana Spencer.
“So I jumped out of the car, grabbed the camera and rushed to snap a picture.
“She saw me, she rushed through the bushes. I managed to get a picture of him running up through the woods.
“Prince Charles was angry, god was he angry. He threw the fishing rod down and stormed off.
“The following day we ran the photo I had taken of Diana at the polo on the front page and underneath the headline was ‘Lady Diana Spencer, all the qualities to be Queen.’”
It was a career defining moment for Arthur who in half a century on The Sun, Arthur has travelled to 120 countries, taking photos of not just the Royal Family but many of the world’s biggest names.
But unlike many paps the lorry driver’s son, who left school at 15, was as much a hit with his subjects as he was with his editors.
Diana once described him as her favourite royal photographer and he was among those who regularly joined Prince Harry for a drink following a royal tour.
And last month he was congratulated by Queen Camilla personally when he picked up a Lifetime Achievement gong.
Arthur, 84, says that the secret to getting his subjects on side has always been to ‘ask nicely.’
He explains: “Most people are nice and if you’re pleasant you’ll get a similar reception back is what I have always found.
“One of the most iconic photographs I took of Diana in the see-through skirt in 1980 was taken because I travelled to the nursery she was working at and asked her nicely.
“I always say, you get more with sugar than you do with vinegar.”
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However, Arthur is the first to admit that niceties weren’t always part of his nature and that while starting out he took an ‘aggressive approach.’
‘AGGRESSIVE APPROACH’
“When I started doing the job, I wasn’t bothered one way about the Royal Family,” he explains.
“The thing about the newspaper business is you can’t come back empty handed, editors don’t want excuses, they want pictures.
“So I was aggressive and some of the things I did then I’d be ashamed of today.”
Arthur says there is one incident that he particularly regrets from his early career.
“I went to the Bahamas in 1982 while Diana was pregnant with William and photographed her in a bikini on the beach with Charles,” he says.
“There would be uproar over that now.
“It was probably one of the things I regret because they didn’t see me as I was hiding in the bushes.
“I got great pictures of course but I got a lot of stick for it.
“The only person who was pleased with the photos was my editor, even the office driver was disgusted with what I had done.”
QUEEN’S CONGRATULATIONS TO ARTHUR
Our royal photographer, who still works full-time at 84, was presented with the first Lifetime Achievement gong at the British Press Awards in May.
Arthur, who joined The Sun in December 1974, received it as the biggest names in journalism gathered to salute the best in the business.
And Queen Camilla sent a congratulatory message on behalf of King Charles and herself.
She said: “I cannot think of anyone who deserves it more.
“Not just for your decades of hard graft and talent, but in recognition of the enduring respect, admiration and affection that I know is felt for you across your whole industry — and indeed across the Royal Household.
“For more years than either of us care to remember, you have brought your trademark charm, humour and outstanding skill to countless events.”
However, Arthur says that Diana was able to have the last laugh when she eventually confronted him about the photographs on the royal couple’s Australian tour the following year.
“During the tour Diana asked me how much I was paid for the pictures and I said, ‘nothing, ma’am. I said, I just got expenses like I was doing a court case in Bradford’,” he says.
“She smiled and said, ‘pass me the Kleenex.’
“She wasn’t offended, so I felt a lot better about it after that.”
It wasn’t just Diana who saw the funny side of some of Arthur’s more controversial photos.
“I remember one occasion when I was photographing a young Charles leaving a polo match in the late 70s. I caught the back of his head which showed his bald spot,” Arthur says.
While I was no superfan of the monarchy when I started out, as I spent more time with Charles I realised he was something very special
Arthur Edwards
“The following Wednesday, I’m at another polo match at Windsor and his security told me that Charles wanted a word with me.
“He asked me if I was the man who had taken the photo and then asked me how many people had seen it.
“When I told him the paper readership was around seven or eight million he said ‘oh my God, that’s why everyone is taking a photo of the back of my head wherever I go!’”
That was Arthur’s first conversation with the now King, and the pair have gone on to have many more since with the photographer one of the monarch’s greatest champions.
KING’S CHAMPION
“While I was no superfan of the monarchy when I started out, as I spent more time with Charles I realised he was something very special,” Arthur says.
“Over the years I have observed him truly throw himself into his environmental and charity work with real passion.
“And so when he faced criticism from a government minister and Mr Murdoch asked me to write an opinion piece on our then future monarch I gladly did it.
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“I highlighted all the good he did and he must have seen it because our relationship changed over time.
“I became a tremendous supporter of him from that onwards and ultimately so did the paper.
“He was no longer the playboy prince who was ridiculed for talking to his plants but a real champion of the nation and one of the reasons I am still working today at 84.”
Sadly, the same can not be said for the King’s youngest son.
HARRY’S CRUELTY
Once one of Prince Harry’s biggest supporters, Arthur says that he has been astonished by his ‘cruelty.’
“When it comes to a reconciliation I never say never but I think the problem is the damage has been done,” Arthur says.
“While the Oprah interview might have been Meghan’s doing, the tell-all Spare book was all Harry and that was pretty damn cruel.
“He mentioned that he wanted a reconciliation in his recent interview with the BBC but what he should have been saying was ‘sorry.’”
While he might think of himself as the ‘Spare’, Arthur says that his own experience proved that he was anything but.
“I think it’s such a shame Harry calls himself that as he was far more than a ‘spare’, he was a vital part of the royal family,” Arthur explains.
I think it’s such a shame Harry calls himself that as he was far more than a ‘spare’, he was a vital part of the royal family
Arthur Edwards
“He was by far as our readers were concerned, I thought he was their most popular member of the royal family.
“He was a super guy to work with and I loved working with him.
“At the end of every trip we would all go to the pub and they would close the bar for Harry and then we’d have an hour and a half where we’d chat.
“He would be candid too, Harry always told you when he didn’t like a picture
“I remember him once telling me that he would do everything in his power to help us out, and he really did.
“Now it’s hard to sort of say anything nice about him but in my heart, I hope one day, somehow he can come back and work for the country.”
Meanwhile Arthur, who has worked for The Sun for over 50 years, plans to continue serving his own role for as long as he can.
He adds: “My job is a way of life and it’s been a way of life for 50 years.
“I’ve enjoyed every bit of it and I plan to carry on as long as that’s still the case.
“As Piers Morgan once said, ‘treat every day as your last because one day you’ll be right’.”
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