Video: How a Royal insider captured laughing Queen

As a member of the country’s most famous family Patrick Lichfield connected with the Royals in a way that others could not.
Curator Claire Fletcher at Beningbrough Hall.  Picture by Bruce RollinsonCurator Claire Fletcher at Beningbrough Hall.  Picture by Bruce Rollinson
Curator Claire Fletcher at Beningbrough Hall. Picture by Bruce Rollinson

Lichfield’s photographs give a fascinating insight into the monarchy and show the Queen and other family members caught in more informal moments as well as the more traditional shots many of us are more familiar with.

In one, relaxed and laughing, the Queen is captured in an off-duty moment on board Britannia, in a shot taken in 1972. In another a young Prince Charles at Balmoral opens his arms to Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones in a tender gesture of affection.

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The photographs are part of the Lichfield: A Royal Album which has gone on display at the National Trust’s Beningbrough Hall, near York, as part of the Royals: then and now display and demonstrates the hall’s increasing ability to bring some of the country’s most iconic portraits to Yorkshire.

Curator Claire Fletcher at Beningbrough Hall.  Picture by Bruce RollinsonCurator Claire Fletcher at Beningbrough Hall.  Picture by Bruce Rollinson
Curator Claire Fletcher at Beningbrough Hall. Picture by Bruce Rollinson

“As a member of the family, Lichfield connected with the royals in a way that other photographers perhaps couldn’t,” says David Morgan, general manager at Beningbrough.

“His photographs give a fascinating glimpse into the world of Royalty, and alongside our current display of Royals: then and now, they capture a much more relaxed style of how the Royal Family have been portrayed over the centuries.”

Among the 20 images the reclusive Duke and Duchess of Windsor are captured relaxed and smiling at the camera. Lichfield played court jester to get the shot - purposefully falling through a cane garden chair and snapping the picture as he went down. The resulting shot was published in Vogue.

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In another taken in June 1968, the Queen Mother is engrossed in conversation with Sir John Betjeman in what exhibition organisers describe as a scene “as natural as any image from our own photograph albums.”

The behind-the-scenes look at the Royal Family will be on display alongside more formal portraits which are on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, as part of the hall’s Royals: then and now exhibition, including works by Nicky Philipps, Chris Levine, Andy Warhol and Mario Testino.

The National Trust and National Portrait Gallery are marking 35 years of partnership which has seen the historic estate display some of the nation’s most significant art. Beningbrough, which is one of a number of regional partners with the gallery, first displayed works from the 16-17th century.

Today a reception will be held at Beningbrough to mark the partnership which allows art to be displayed in a unique setting.

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Lichfield, who died almost a decade ago, first picked up a camera when he was seven, photographing his family and pets at home at Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire and started his career as a photographer’s assistant on £3 a week. He went on to have a career that spanned 40 years.

Penny Breia, Trustee of the Lichfield archive said: “Lichfield Studios is delighted to have been invited to feature a collection of Lichfield images of The Royal Family, ranging from iconic shots to rarely seen pictures, at the extremely prestigious and popular exhibition ‘Royals: then and now’ at Beningbrough Hall.”

The exhibition, Lichfield: A Royal Album, in conjunction with Lichfield Studios, runs until Sunday November 2.