Harry and Meghan’s Wedding Photographer on Borderline ‘Awkward’ Experience Taking 2017 Engagement Photos
Apparently, taking Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s photo to mark their 2017 engagement was “awkward” for the sweetest reason. Photographer Alexi Lubomirski found himself thinking he should leave because of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’s love for each other.
Harry and Meghan sent each other ‘intimate’ glances while getting their engagement photos taken
Lubomirski, who photographed Harry and Meghan for their engagement, and later their 2018 royal wedding, discussed the experience with the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph.
He snapped photos of the pair at Windsor’s Frogmore House, which later served as their evening wedding reception venue, in December 2017. A month earlier, in November 2017, Harry proposed to Meghan at Nottingham Cottage, their then-home.
Released in December 2017 by Kensington Palace, Harry and Meghan’s official engagement portraits showed them walking hand-in-hand and snuggling up together.
Thinking back to taking Harry and Meghan’s engagement photos, Lubomirski recalled feeling borderline uncomfortable. “Every time they looked at each other, I almost felt awkward,” he told the outlet. “I kept thinking, ‘This is so intimate. Should I even be here for this?’”
“Being around them was very intoxicating,” he added.
Alexi Lubomirski met with Harry and Meghan 2 days after receiving a call from Kensington Palace
Discussing Harry and Meghan’s engagement portraits ahead of the release of his book, The Sittings (2003-2023), Lubomirski revealed how he found himself getting a call from Kensington Palace on the same day his mother underwent surgery.
“When I got off the phone, I said, ‘I think Kensington Palace just called me?’ Two days later I was sitting in front of [Harry and Meghan] talking concepts,” he said (via People).
“My mum was having a brain tumor taken out, so I was just all over the place,” the photographer explained. “And then my poor brother and sister were looking at me on the phone because it was after 10 hours of waiting for the doctor to call.”
“So I got on the phone and my face was like, ‘I’m sorry, what?’ My poor brother and sister were like, ‘Oh my God, what’s happened to our mum?’” he recalled.
1 Harry and Meghan wedding photo made the photographer ‘burst into tears’
The Duke of Duchess of Sussex’s royal wedding on May 19, 2018, undoubtedly resulted in memorable photos. However, only one made Lubomirski cry.
In 2019, the photographer shared the story behind a photo of Harry and Meghan he took after their St. George’s Chapel nuptials.
“The Palace official was looking at me saying, ‘We’re going to have to turn around soon.’ And I was like, ‘OK, OK. Just sit down on these stairs.’ And they literally just sort of slumped down, laughing. Sort of looking at each other going, ‘Oh, my god, we’re married.’”
Only later did Lubomirski review the 10 frames he’d quickly taken. “I burst into tears when I saw that one of them on the stairs,” he recalled. “Partly relief but also partly because it’s just such a beautiful picture. I’m a cheese ball, I love love.”
“You could see that as they walked away from the castle and all the craziness, and it was just us in the garden, you could sense this wonderful, lovely, relaxing moment,” the photographer recalled. “It was the first moment they were alone together … and it’s just like, ‘Aah, we’ve done it.’”
Lubomirski has since photographed Harry and Meghan on another occasion. He snapped photos of them alongside their children, Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 1, for the family’s 2021 Christmas card.
