The Queen: The day I came face to face with Her Majesty at the aircraft carrier commissioning

There are a few of us who are lucky enough to have photographed or even met the Queen.

I’ve read the stories of a couple of picture editors and photographers who shared their experience when they photographed Her Majesty during her visits to Portsmouth.

For me, it was my first year of running the picture desk at The News in 2017 and I was tasked with capturing and managing our team of photographers when the Queen came to the city for the commissioning of the new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Most photographers and journalists were kept far away – a hundred times further then an arm’s length within HMS Queen Elizabeth – from HM Queen Elizabeth during the commissioning ceremony.

Her Majesty’s security was hot on where we could and could not be to capture the event. One of the options was high on a balcony – not great for pictures even with a zoom lens, and worse when you had to make your way up a thin metal ladder with camera and bags. I felt bad for the ITV crew who followed with even larger and heavier cameras and tripods.

SEE ALSO: How readers of The News can leave a tribute to the Queen

Shortly after the ceremony, the queen disappeared into one of the many metal doors within the vessel. Visitors, sailors and journalists were allowed to mingle on the hangar. I and the reporter, former defence correspondent Tom Cotterill, continued our job to capture stories in between from people who had met the Queen, and to see the huge replica cake of the aircraft carrier.

Snapping away at the cake, I found myself sandwiched between other visitors doing the same. All of a sudden, the Queen appeared from a door opposite us and was talking to the bakers and veterans on the opposite side of the table. Instinctively, I took some initial shots, a lot closer then I was before, as there was a chance of bagging some nice pictures as she was looking at the cake. Other photographers and TV crew near by did the same.

Her Majesty then proceeded to walk further to my left away from the cake to the end of the table. The other photographers and camera crew followed. I, however was still stuck between other visitors, worried by the time if I made it to the end of the table, I would have been met by the backs of the TV crew and struggling to get an over-the-shoulder type of shot. No good when you’re only 5ft 6in.

I stood where I was, and in a twist of fate, the Queen walked to the side of the table where I was. As she was slowly walking towards the cake, greeting the people on my left, I realised at some point, she’s going to see me face to face! Her security team behind her were looking at me thinking the same.

I had no idea what to do. She looked at me. Do I bow? Do I say hello ma’am?

She smiled. Camera at the ready, again instincts at peak, I snapped the picture. I smiled back, star struck still not knowing what to say. And then she uttered three words that I have not forgotten to this day:

‘You’re too close.’

She was right, snapping a picture that close at 24mm would only distort the picture. Then she proceeded to walk away to my right.

One of the security members was laughing as he was fully aware of the situation I had found myself in.

After the pictures were filed and prepared for the next day’s newspaper. The visit was a success, we had some great stories published and more pictures to follow.

A week later, I had a letter from Buckingham palace. Not what I was expecting. It was a letter from the security team, thanking us for the coverage and wanting a copy of the paper.

To this day, I still wish my meeting with the Queen was more meaningful: To have an engaging conversation with her as she has done with so many others. But I still am grateful that I had some sort of interaction with her, even though it may have been fleeting at best.