The Realities Of Being An Official Royal Photographer

Prince George peers into the baby carriage of his infant sister, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, after her christening at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham Estate on July 5, 2015.

Kate, Duchess of Cambridge fires an arrow during an Bhutanese archery demonstration while her husband, Prince William, looks on. She missed. The event was during the Bhutan leg of a royal tour that also took the couple to India in 2016.

Queen Elizabeth II feeds Donna the elephant, while Prince Philip looks on, a bit bemused by the whole event. It occurred during a visit to the ZSL Whipsnade Zoo on April 11, 2017 in Dunstable, England.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle hold hands during an official photocall to announce their engagement in the sunken garden at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London.

Princess Anne (second from the left) laughs as she helps her mother, Queen Elizabeth II, cut surprisingly dense 100th-anniversary cake for the Women’s Institute at the Royal Albert Hall on June 4, 2015 in London, England. On the other side of the monarch is her daughter-in-law, fellow Women’s Institute member Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

“Whilst on tour the decisions you make on a daily basis can be the difference between getting the ‘picture of the day’ or possibly the year and not,” Jackson explains, in an email interview while in Sydney. “It can be incredibly frustrating missing opportunities due to transport, logistics or even just being in the wrong place after often travelling halfway around the world.” That has already happened during this tour, as bad weather has thrown some events off-schedule, while Meghan’s pregnancy meant she skipped some engagements she was originally to attend.

And Jackson’s already had some of his equipment break during the Sydney leg of the trip, which is all part of his reality. “Kit takes a certain amount of abuse as you bounce on and off planes and buses so it’s inevitable that it will take a hit occasionally,” he says.

But it’s the results that make the effort worthwhile. This month, the best of Jackson’s royal photographs were gathered into a book, Modern Monarchy. Filled with his images of the entire family — from Queen Elizabeth II leaning down to answer a query from great-grandson Prince George to the newest royal, Meghan, on her wedding day — it’s also the first such book published in more than a quarter-century. Back in the 1980s and ’90s, books like this were ubiquitous, their sales driven by the popularity of Diana, princess of Wales, and Sarah, Duchess of York. Then, a decade of scandals and divorces — combined with the lack of young, charismatic Windsors — killed the market.

Now, the fab four — William, Kate, Harry and Meghan — spark intense interest around the world, for not just what they wear and where they go, but also their charitable campaigns, like breaking down the stigmas around mental-health issues. The images in Modern Monarchy show the ongoing evolution of the House of Windsor: while Queen Elizabeth II hews to a formal lifestyle, befitting her generation and age, her children and grandchildren are far more relaxed, giving hugs, playing with children and bring attention to serious issues, such as Camilla’s support of abused women and children.

Like other full-time royal photographers and reporters, Jackson is part of the royal rota, a news industry system by which a rotating small group of media get close access to the royals and share their materials with colleagues. Over the years, that’s how he’s learned the tricks of his trade: “By gaining the confidence of those he photographs and returning each year to the regular ‘diary’ events, Chris has developed an unrivalled knowledge of where to be and when to get his photograph,” notes Michael Pritchard, director-general of the Royal Photographic Society, in the book’s foreword. Those close-up photos include Prince Harry talking with athletes at Toronto’s Invictus Games, and Kate shooting an arrow in Bhutan. In addition to those public events, he’s also taken official portraits of Prince George for his first day of school as well as his fourth birthday.

With the full-time working royals completing some 3,600 engagements a year, Jackson’s travelling rarely ends. After Harry and Meghan’s 16-day tour ends in New Zealand, the royal photographer heads straight to Ghana for the start of the eight-day visit by Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, to that Commonwealth nation, as well as Nigeria and Gambia. Soon, however, he will get a break for a happy event of his own: in July, Jackson and his wife, Natasha Archer, the personal stylist to Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, revealed they are expecting their first child. No need to ask who will take this baby’s photographs.