{"id":1991464,"date":"2025-09-01T16:52:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T16:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1991464"},"modified":"2025-09-01T16:52:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T16:52:38","slug":"royal-photographer-pinpoints-exact-moment-william-and-harrys-relationship-changed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/royal-photographer-pinpoints-exact-moment-william-and-harrys-relationship-changed\/","title":{"rendered":"Royal photographer pinpoints exact moment William and Harry’s relationship changed"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ahead of new documentary William and Harry: The Unseen Photos, Mirror photographers Ian Lloyd, Kent Gavin and Ian Vogler look back over the most impactful images they’ve taken of the royal family<\/h2>\n

Princes William and Harry are the most photographed royal brothers in history.<\/p>\n

Yet only a few of the hundreds of thousands of images taken of the princes are actually seen by the public.<\/p>\n

Most remain unseen – filed away by news organisations or on photographers\u2019 hard drives – maybe emerging for the odd retrospective.<\/p>\n

Now a new documentary, William and Harry: The Unseen Photos released in UK cinemas this week, features some of these forgotten images – together with personal insights from the photographers who took them.<\/p>\n

A gallery of images document their early childhood, the tensions during their parents\u2019 divorce, the excesses of the paparazzi, the death of Princess Diana<\/a>, the princes\u2019 growing dislike of intrusive media coverage and their rift today.<\/p>\n

Here, The Mirror<\/a> \u2019s now retired royal photographer Kent Gavin, and photographer and author Ian Lloyd, whose images have appeared in The Mirror – both contributors to the film – reflect on William and Harry\u2019s life in pictures.<\/p>\n

Royal photographer and author Ian Lloyd<\/strong><\/p>\n

One thing that William and Harry do agree on is both of them go to great lengths to protect their families from the paparazzi.<\/p>\n

When Diana came along, the world<\/a> fell in love with her. Photographers were out in force whenever she appeared.<\/p>\n

But William and Harry grew to hate them.<\/p>\n

I remember seeing William at Smith\u2019s Lawn polo ground in the front passenger seat of his father\u2019s Aston Martin. The minute he saw the cameras he ducked his head, using his hair as a shield to hide his face, just as the young Diana had. He didn\u2019t like being the pin-up prince and blushed easily.<\/p>\n

When he joined the family at the Queen Mother\u2019s birthday appearance at the gates of Clarence House, girls started screaming, \u201cWe love you William,\u201d much to his embarrassment, and to the amusement of his brother – who always pulled his leg about it.<\/p>\n

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<\/figure>
<\/g><\/clippath><\/defs><\/svg><\/span>Prince William at the gates of Clarence House on the Queen Mother’s 101st birthday, August 4 2001<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Harry was a different kettle of fish \u2013 seemingly unfazed by the cameras. I was there for his first and last day at Eton College and he joked and waved to the press.<\/p>\n

When he started at Eton, William, on the other hand, looked tense as any 13-year-old might, faced with a press pack of 150 journalists and snappers, until Diana leant forward and joked to make him smile. That\u2019s why, if George goes to Eton next year, William will, almost certainly, only allow one photographer and maybe a single film crew.<\/p>\n

But the real problem was the paparazzi, who were hell bent on getting a shot of the boys\u2019 mother Princess Diana at any cost.<\/p>\n

It took her tragic death on August 31 1997, aged 36, to begin to change press behaviour, as editors stopped using the clearly snooped photos.<\/p>\n

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\n
\"Charles<\/figure>
<\/g><\/clippath><\/defs><\/svg><\/span>Charles holds an umbrella over his youngest son Harry’s head on his first day at Eton Collage, September 1998<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Harry continued to have his brother\u2019s back as they entered their early 20s.<\/p>\n

William was still the pin-up prince, while Harry remained the cheeky, irrepressible one, always there to josh William out of his awkwardness.<\/p>\n

That was apparent to me at the 2004 society wedding of Lady Tamara Grosvenor, daughter of the Duke of Westminster, to Edward van Cutsem, at Chester Cathedral. Harry once again teased William when the odd embarrassingly loud scream could be heard from royal fans.<\/p>\n

In those days, the princes were mutually dependent.<\/p>\n

When I went to Brize Norton in 2008 to see Prince Harry<\/a> return from Afghanistan<\/a>, after news of his deployment was leaked by overseas media, he arrived with a face like thunder. It wasn\u2019t the British press that had messed up the security embargo but, to him, we were tarred with the same brush.<\/p>\n

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\"Harry<\/figure>
<\/g><\/clippath><\/defs><\/svg><\/span>Harry with his ‘face like thunder’ on his return home from Afghanistan after international media leaked his top-secret whereabouts, March 1 2008<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

William was there to meet his brother and carry his equipment to their dad\u2019s car. He, too, looked furious with us and backed his brother all the way.<\/p>\n

Looking back at my photos with hindsight, I can now see one or two tell-tale signs that things weren\u2019t going that well between the brothers. When they posed for photos at RAF Shawbury in 2009, where they were both training to be helicopter pilots, they appeared to be going through the motions.<\/p>\n

At William\u2019s wedding to Kate Middleton<\/a> in April 2011, Harry looked quite fed up when I saw him. In his autobiography Spare,<\/em> Harry says he wasn\u2019t happy wearing his uncomfortable Blues and Royal uniform. The other reason he looked glum on the way back may be that he realised their lives were now on separate trajectories.<\/p>\n

Marriage to Meghan Markle<\/a> has given Harry the family unit he so craved, but has also sounded the death knell for his relationship with his brother, which now seems beyond repair.<\/p>\n

Like many other photographers who have seen William and Harry at close quarters over the years, I can\u2019t help feeling they may look back through their photo albums, to a time when they were the best of friends, and wonder just what has happened.<\/p>\n

The Mirror’s retired royal photographer Kent Gavin says:<\/strong><\/p>\n

William and Harry have always been chalk and cheese, from the minute they were born. Harry, the boisterous one, always on the go. And William the level-headed one from day one.<\/p>\n

Diana had asked for me personally to cover William\u2019s christening – I was in Marbella when I got the call and had a few extra pints that night to celebrate!<\/p>\n

Diana and I worked together for 18 years, and knew each other on a first name basis. The first pictures I took of her were in Knightsbridge when the rumours were just starting to circulate of a romance between her and the then-Prince of Wales.<\/p>\n

Whenever the royal family<\/a> would holiday abroad, the media frenzy would follow them everywhere. Their trip to Nevis in the West Indies was dogged by the world\u2019s press, to the point where her personal protection officer Ken Wharfe sought me out in the hotel for a drink and asked me to speak to the photographers staying there.<\/p>\n

We agreed Diana would appear for one photo, then the global press would leave her alone. Sure enough, the following day she appeared in the waves in that bright orange bikini like a Bond Girl – we weren\u2019t expecting that!<\/p>\n

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\"Diana,<\/figure>
<\/g><\/clippath><\/defs><\/svg><\/span>Diana, Princess of Wales, in the water at Indian Castle Beach during her Nevis holiday, January 2, 1993<\/span>(Image: mirrorpix)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Another time she asked for a chat on a plane. She told me the paparazzi – a different kettle of fish to the press pool – were making her life hell. She had been shopping in Harvey Nichols and had jumped in a cab to head home. Just then a pap on a motorbike drew up alongside her taxi and opened her door. \u201cGet your head up, you f****** b****, I\u2019ve got a mortgage to pay,\u201d he snarled at her as she\u2019d jumped into the footwell.<\/p>\n

I was asked to Balmoral for a photocall of Charles with his boys playing by the River Dee. These images are so poignant, taken just two weeks before Diana\u2019s death. You can tell how happy and relaxed they were by their open body language.<\/p>\n

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\"Charles,<\/figure>
<\/g><\/clippath><\/defs><\/svg><\/span>Charles, William and Harry joke around on the banks of the River Dee in Balmoral on August 12, 1997 – just days before their mother Diana was killed in a horror car crash<\/span>(Image: Mirrorpix)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

August 31, 1997 was a dreadful day. I was called into the office in the early hours of the morning to hear that Diana had died in a horrific car crash. I drove to Northolt to cover the arrival of her coffin back on British soil. It was all I could do not to cry.<\/p>\n

William\u2019s attitude to photographers changed after his mother\u2019s death. He\u2019d organised a photocall on a farm during his gap year and made a surprise appearance at our hotel bar the night before. I remember him telling us: \u201cI will make sure that my future wife and children will never suffer the way my mother did.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing is for sure: if Diana was still around, her boys would never have fallen out so badly. Charles loves his sons and I hope they can find a way back to reconciliation.<\/p>\n

Mirror photographer Ian Vogler says:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The relationship between the boys as children could not be more different from now. Diana\u2019s death changed everything – I remember watching them walking behind their mother\u2019s coffin when they were 15 and 12 and thinking, \u2018What a difficult life they\u2019re going to have with this being beamed around the world on live television.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"William<\/figure>
<\/g><\/clippath><\/defs><\/svg><\/span>William and Harry file behind their mum Diana’s coffin, joined by Prince Philip and Earl Spencer, September 6, 1997<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Back then they couldn\u2019t have been stronger together. You couldn\u2019t imagine them being in a position now where they never speak.<\/p>\n

I joined Harry on a 2015 trip to South Africa, before he met Meghan. He was easy-going, teasing the children we met in a classroom and the kids were just chatting to him. He was really natural, down-to-earth, enjoying their company.<\/p>\n

When William and Kate got together, Harry seemed delighted. He was like a clown prince, making jokes, entertaining his future sister-in-law. They all got on really well together, there were some really nice moments.<\/p>\n

\n
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\"Harry<\/figure>
<\/g><\/clippath><\/defs><\/svg><\/span>Harry and William’s relationship couldn’t have been stronger as boys – but that all changed after Diana’s death<\/span>(Image: Mirrorpix)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The tension between the princes was most obvious at the Prince of Edinburgh\u2019s funeral. They were there, but they weren\u2019t there. They were together but they weren\u2019t together.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s like a whole different world. At Harry and Meghan\u2019s wedding, it was the only wedding I\u2019ve been to where I didn\u2019t see the bride! He had arranged the British press in an odd position so we only saw three-quarters of Meghan and not her head.<\/p>\n

Carer, 45, with debilitating health condition sheds two stone in three months with at-home app<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.mirror.co.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ahead of new documentary William and Harry: The Unseen Photos, Mirror photographers Ian Lloyd, Kent Gavin and Ian Vogler look back over the most impactful images they’ve taken of the royal family Princes William and Harry are the most photographed royal brothers in history. Yet only a few of the hundreds of thousands of images […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1991465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[346605,336236,345395,359906,29309,23067,22730,23299,359905,22769],"class_list":["post-1991464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-bikinis","tag-car-crashes","tag-documentaries","tag-ian-lloyd","tag-love","tag-meghan-markle","tag-prince-harry","tag-princess-diana","tag-queen-elizabeth-the-queen-mother","tag-royal-family"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Royal-photographer-pinpoints-exact-moment-William-and-Harrys-relationship-changed.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1991464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1991465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1991464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1991464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1991464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}