Royal photographer Rankin has spilled all on his time photographing Queen Elizabeth and admits he's probably not meant to share the late monarch's insecurity about her hands.
Queen Elizabeth didn’t like her hands, according to royal photographer Rankin.
The 56-year-old celebrity photographer - who has photographed the likes of David Bowie, Kate Moss and Madonna, to name a few - revealed the late monarch’s insecurity and how she used it as a “get out” when he tried to get an image of her holding a sword for the Golden Jubilee in 2002.
Speaking on the ‘Tea With Twiggy’ podcast, he spilled: “I was like, ‘I really want to photograph you holding the sword,’ and she said, ‘I don’t like my hands.’ [I thought] that’s the best ‘get out’ for holding the sword.
“I’m probably not supposed to say that [she disliked her hands], but what I loved about her is she’s so smart and everything in response that she was saying had this amazing twist to it."
Rankin - whose real name is John Rankin Waddell - said his brief time with the royal was “really, really brilliant”.
He told former supermodel Twiggy: “It was just really, really brilliant. I loved it — I spent five minutes with her, so I don’t know her intimately.”
Rankin shared how when Elizabeth - who was 96 when she died peacefully of old age on September 8 - entered the room “this wave of empowerment washes over you."
He said: “I’ve never felt that aura and she was just so funny from the minute she walked in.
The photographer insisted he has proof his image of the late sovereign was regarded as one of Buckingham Palace’s “favourites”.
He said: “I got a really amazing note where the curator said my photograph of her is one of their favourites - which I think means the Palace’s favourite - because she's really laughing in my picture.”
On the same day that Glastonbury welcomed back Margate's adopted sons, The Libertines, Margate itself put on it's very own Leisure Festival as it...
Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.
Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.
With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...
Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...
Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...
Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...