Royal photographer Alexi Lubomirski on working with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: “they get in their own little world”
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24th May 2019
Fashion photographer Alexi Lubomirski was chosen by the British Royal Family to take the official engagement portraits of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Kensington Palace in December of 2017. The following year, he was selected once more to mark the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s May nuptials by photographing their wedding at Windsor Castle. Lubomirski was a fitting choice – he is royalty himself as a descendant of a Polish noble family and holds the hereditary title of His Serene Highness Prince Alexi. Here, Lubomirski reflects on his career, love, family and royalty.
“I love taking pictures of people in love and real couples. My favourite person to take a picture of is my wife. In 10 years of marriage I would say there have been six times that she’s let me do it properly. When I do, it’s this amazing feverish feeling, trying to get as many pictures as possible and trying to get the picture that completely defines how I feel about her. I always tell people you have to take pictures of people you love or paint people you love, because it’s such a special experience.
When I was taking pictures of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s engagement, it was the same thing. When I went to meet them to talk about the shoot, they asked: ‘How would you go about this? How do you see the shoot happening?’ And I said: ‘I don’t want it to be a still life. I know we have to show the ring and there are certain restrictions we have to adhere to, but I really want to keep it as natural as possible.’
There were a few of us in the room and every time Harry or Meghan would talk, one of them would look at the other and there would be this little sparkle, this little giggle, this little nudge of the elbow, and it was so cute. I said to them: ‘Listen, stop. This is exactly what I want to do. You’re so adorable together, you’re obviously so in love and all I want you to do is .’
There is this black and white shot where they’re cuddling and she was wrapped up in his jacket. I remember it was the last shot of the day and the light was going down. He was wearing this big overcoat and I said: ‘Wrap her up in your jacket. Turn around so you’re facing each other.’ The hairs went up on the back of my neck as I was taking the pictures. She looked up at him and they were giggling and the ring came out of the jacket, and I was snapping and I’m like: ‘Yes, yes, yes, this is amazing. This is it.’ I think they were laughing at my over-ecstatic behaviour and then again they were giggling with each other – they get in their own little world. That was it, and I got the shot.
Photographing the wedding was fantastic as well, but it was a different kettle of fish. There was less time to really get into it, whereas with the engagement it was just them and me. We were exploring and enjoying it and finding different angles. I was watching them as they walked through the garden, and then picking moments out of it.
The sort of people I’ve shot in my career put me in good stead for this job. I don’t actually think the Palace knew about my royal title when I got the job. I think it was only afterwards when the press started talking about who the photographer was that it actually came out. It’s not the sort of thing that I put on the call sheet at work!
When I found out I was a prince, at age 11, for the first five minutes I was ecstatic. Then very quickly my mother told me there’s nothing to go with the title anymore. The palaces have gone. The land is gone. Everything. I very naively asked her: ‘What’s the point of the title, then?’ And then she said something that didn’t make much sense when I heard it. She said: ‘If you want to be a prince in today’s world, you have to be a prince in your heart and in your actions.’ That stuck with me my whole life to varying degrees. It wasn’t until having children that I was suddenly able to use the title, and the knowledge of it, as a method to try to teach my two sons how to be good people.
It was my eldest son’s first birthday and I wanted to get him something that would last forever. I realised when looking at my Polish family history that material possessions can be there one day and gone the next. I wanted to give him something that could never be taken away from him. I thought to myself: ‘If I were not here tomorrow, what would I have wanted to tell my sons as they got older?’ I started to write down these things. I realised they were what one would characterise as princely values – the caricature of a prince: leadership, chivalry, charity, love, romance and spirituality. So I wrote my first book [, published in 2015]. In six months it was translated into six languages, and all the money went to the humanitarian charity called Concern Worldwide, for which I’m an ambassador.
I also meditate every day, and my sons would always ask me what I’m doing. I’d say: ‘I’m praying and saying thank you.’ They wanted to learn how to meditate and they wanted to learn how to say thank you. We started meditating every night, and afterwards I would ask them to say their thank-yous. At first it was difficult for them to think of things, but gradually, over time, their thank-yous got longer and longer, as they realised that every day is filled with things to be thankful for. I started writing all their thank-yous down and sent it off to my publisher and she loved the idea of a second book on gratitude. We found this fantastic illustrator called Tracey Knight, who really understood the magic of what we were trying to do with , and that was it.
My children know I photographed the Prince, but they’re still at an age where it wouldn’t really register. And also, I’m not a photographer who seeks the limelight. As soon as I finish work I come home and I work on my projects and I’m a complete hermit.
Over my life I’ve learnt about how love is an absolute gift. I always say to people: ‘It’s like looking after a baby.’ In order for it to survive, you have to nurture it and you have to protect it. I think that it’s the same with love between a couple and in a family. You constantly have to keep feeding it and keep nurturing it.”
Thank You For My Dreams
Thank You For My Dreams by His Serene Highness Prince Alexi Lubomirski.
This article appears in the 2019 Vogue Royal Special, on sale now. Buy it here.