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Anwar Hussein, who has died aged 85, was the longest-serving royal photographer, credited with helping change the public view of the British Royal Family.
Through his impressive photos, captured across five decades, the African-born photo journalist gave rise to a more informal and candid variety of royal photography.
Given his relaxed style, Anwar struck up a close bond with Princess Diana and snapped some of her most well-known moments – from her solo picture at the Taj Mahal in 1992 as her marriage with then-Prince Charles disintegrated to her ‘revenge dress’.
Such was their friendly relationship, Diana even asked him for advice on interfaith marriage as they shared a flight during a tour in the mid-nineties.
Speaking in 2022, the photographer revealed how the royal approached him for a hushed conversation during her relationship with Doctor Hasnat Khan.
The late princess cut a very lonely figure in front of the Taj Mahal, an ivory white marble mausoleum, which stands as a timeless symbol of love, in 1992
‘Favourite’: Of the thousands of photographs Anwar Hussein took of Princess Diana, this one of her cradling a young cancer patient in Lahore, Pakistan in 1996 was her most cherished
He recalled to PEOPLE magazine: ‘All the lights were dimmed on the flight, and she came and whispered, ‘Can I have a chat?’.
‘She knew that I was married to an English girl, Caroline. She wanted to know about Islam. She was asking about being married when one person is Muslim and another is Protestant.’
He added: ‘She was interested because of what she was going through with [her then-boyfriend] Dr. Hasnat Khan. She didn’t mention him, but she assumed I knew it. I think she was wondering how the family would react to him and things like that.’
Diana was said to be besotted with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, whom she reportedly dated from 1995 to 1997, during which Diana met his family and considered converting to Islam.
The couple met at the Royal Brompton Hospital when Diana was visiting a friend who was recovering from a heart operation.
They then pursued a discreet, two-year affair which ended in the early summer of 1997. Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31 of that year.
Anwar documented Diana’s journey from 1980 up until her tragic death – and then, sadly, her funeral.
His camera captured her from what he referred to as ‘Shy Di’ to ‘becoming stronger’ and wanting to ‘prove she was brave enough to do what she wanted’.
Anwar Hussein and his two sons Samir and Zak (pictured outside Buckingham Palace)
Revenge in style: On the same night in 1994 that Prince Charles admitted to the nation he had cheated on his wife, Diana attended a Vanity Fair party – and made sure the world’s media was firmly fixed on her
Wearing a yellow jumpsuit, Diana can be seen putting all her attention to Princes William and Harry while on holiday in Palma, Majorca, in 1987
‘She was always really nice’. he recalled to The Telegraph. ‘We’d often fly on the same plane and Diana would come into economy class and talk to us about anything and everything, especially after she broke up with Charles.’
Once, he asked Diana if he had upset her when she wept after being presented with a single rose by a well-wisher in the Outer Hebrides. ‘No,’ she replied. ‘It’s because Charles never gives me flowers.’
He was also there to capture the moment she wore her unforgettable ‘revenge dress’ on the same night in 1994 that Prince Charles admitted to the nation he had cheated on his wife.
‘Quite a few times I photographed [Diana] where she hit on a canny way of dressing to express her feelings,’ Anwar told the Los Angeles Times in 2021. ‘Other times, she would isolate herself… she would remove herself, and I captured this a few times…’
One such moment captured by the royal photographer was Diana’s lone visit to the Taj Mahal in India in 1992.
As Charles had engagements, the late princess cut a very lonely figure in front of the ivory white marble mausoleum, which stands as a timeless symbol of love.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Anwar revealed how the Princess once confessed to him that she had discovered more about her husband from the photo journalist’s book HRH Prince Charles (1978) than she did from the royal himself.
Anwar, when working as a freelancer in the early 1970s, covered the occasional royal event – but never quite fitted in with the ‘official’ royal photographers.
Motherly bond: Anwar Hussein captured the moment Diana emerged from the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, London, following the birth of Prince Harry in 1984
Charles and Diana pose for a photo on the banks of the river Dee in the grounds of Balmoral Castle during their honeymoon on August 19, 1981
Charles and Diana dance together during a gala dinner dance at the Southern Cross Hotel on October 31, 1985 in Melbourne, Australia
Charles and Diana at a Gala night in honour of actor Sir Alec Guinness at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 1987 in Cannes, France
Diana attends the Vice President’s Banquet in New Delhi on February 10, 1992 in Delhi, India
‘At the time I had long hair and dressed very casually; they wore smart suits and ties,’ he recalled to The Telegraph in 2016. ‘They told me I’d never make it, so I became intent on proving them wrong.
‘It struck me that official photographs of the Royal family were very stiff and formal, so I set out to avoid that. I shot them from farther away and captured them between poses, to show them looking natural.’
He added to The Times: ‘I didn’t like the usual pictures – tiaras, all dressed up, looking into the camera. I wanted to make them look and feel like human beings.’
Buckingham Palace press secretaries were so impressed with his new style, likely recognising that his approach made the Royal Family look more appealing, that they started to invite him on royal tours.
Accredited as an ‘official’ royal photographer, he joined the late Queen Elizabeth II as she visited 36 countries around the Commonwealth in 1977 for her Silver Jubilee.
He claimed that the late Queen once told him that seeing him at each new country she arrived at relaxed her thanks to the ‘familiarity’.
‘I never felt overwhelmed by photographing President Reagan or the Queen or anyone else, because I treat them as a person,’ he previously told The Times.
‘Once you get excited about “He’s the president!” or “She’s the Queen!”, you lose the personal touch.’
His photographs proved so popular that the late Queen, Charles, Princess Anne and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother used his snaps on their official Christmas cards.
Six of his photos appear in the Royal Collection and some also featured on postage stamps, which was an astonishing feat for the photo journalist who had only ever seen the British monarchs on stamps as a child in Tanganyika before moving to the UK.
Queen Elizabeth ll and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, greet the public during a Silver Jubilee walkabout on June 07, 1977
Queen Elizabeth ll, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau attend a banquet on October 15, 1977 in Canada
Born in 1938 in Chunya, Tanganyika, now Tanzania, the fourth of five children to Sardar Begum and Mohamed Hussein, Anwar was encouraged by an older brother to take up photography as a hobby at an early age.
In his early 20s, as he aimed to make a living from his photography, he was hired by the United Nations to document the humanitarian crisis in the Republic of the Congo, where trouble erupted following its independence from Belgium, reported The Guardian.
In 1963, he moved to England where as a freelance photographer he captured the anti-Vietnam War protest outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square.
Soon, he covered the stars of the Swinging Sixties, from Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan to Rod Stewart, Elton John, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Bob Marley, the Sex Pistols and Freddie Mercury.
He was also a set photographer on films, including numerous Bond movies and Steve McQueen’s Le Mans.
The King’s coronation in 2023 was reportedly the last job for the photo journalist, who won Arts and Entertainment Photographer of the Year at the Picture Editor Awards three times.
In 2021, an exhibition of his photographs, Princess Diana: Accredited Access, successfully toured the United States, Canada and Australia before closing in London in 2024.
Photographs by his two sons, Samir and Zakir, who both followed in their father’s footsteps, and now are multi-award winning and celebrated photographers themselves, also featured in the project.
William and Kate kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following their wedding on April 29, 2011 in London
The King’s coronation in 2023 was reportedly the last job for the photo journalist. Pictured, the Princess of Wales at the coronation
The exhibition consisted of ‘larger than life images, bespoke art installations and first-hand narration’ in a 60-minute experience delving into the lives of the royal family.
Accredited by the Royal Family, the Husseins make up the longest-standing family of official royal photographers, having collectively spent over four decades working side-by-side with the princess and her family.
They received special access to document the lives of the royals in public, as well as capturing more intimate, private moments.
One story the exhibition told is the touching image of Diana cradling a sick child in her arms during her visit to Imran Khan’s cancer hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, during April 1996.
The photographers told of the moment: ‘Diana later told me that out of so many pictures taken of her, this was her favourite photograph of all… She was so sad when she found out the boy had passed away shortly after her visit.’
Anwar said at the time of the exhibition: ‘I am honoured and humbled to have been given the opportunity to photograph Princess Diana so extensively and to have had the pleasure of having many friendly and insightful conversations with her.
‘I am delighted that the images captured, as well as those of my sons, are coming home to London to recognise and memorialise such a remarkable woman and her sons.
‘There are so many memories of our two families connecting and creating a special relationship, which I am pleased to be able to display in such a unique way through the exhibition.’
In 1978, Anwar married Caroline Morgan. She survives him with their sons, Samir and Zakir.
Anwar Hussein was born on November 3, 1938. He died of cancer on September 23, 2024, aged 85.
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