A small moment between the Princess of Wales and a long-serving royal photographer at the Commonwealth Day service didn't go unnoticed by royal fans. She attended alongside other senior members of the Royal Family on 9th March and high-profile guests, including Geri Halliwell-Horner.
Photographer Arthur Edwards was also there and since he's been taking pictures of the royals for decades now, it's no surprise that Kate recognised him. What's more surprising is that she greeted him directly.
As the Princess of Wales took to her seat ahead of the service, her eye catches Arthur and his camera. Rather than looking away, Kate offered up a warm smile and mouthed a quick "Hello".
Author Edwards, has been covering royal events for decades and on social media he states he's "photographed 7 royal weddings, 4 funerals and 7 royal births", which more than explains why he might have been a friendly, familiar face at the service.
While this might seem unimportant and, actually, quite normal for most people, it’s a marked change in how the younger members of the Royal Family are choosing to operate in public. It could suggest that some of the old rules have been thrown out.
Indeed, purposely avoiding eye contact with the camera was a piece of advice Prince Philip reportedly shared with the likes of Kate and Duchess Sophie when they were finding their feet in their public-facing roles.
According to Gyles Brandreth, writing in his 2021 book, Philip: The Final Portrait, the late Prince would reportedly help mentor family members and one of the nuggets of wisdom would be about where to look and how to behave when out in public.
He would point out that the late Queen would always focus her attention on whoever she was talking to, and not looking for the cameras or seemingly being aware of them.
Philip is said to have thought, "If you believe the attention is for you personally, you're going to end up in trouble. The attention is for your role, what you do, what you're supporting. It isn't for you as an individual. You are not a celebrity. You are representing the Royal Family. That's all."
It’s unfair to suggest that Kate wasn’t focusing on the job at hand or acting like a "celebrity" with this recent exchange, but instead offering a quick, more personal greeting to a familiar face. Prince Philip’s distrust of the cameras might have more to do with the intrusion of paparazzi, opposed to invited members of the press who covered events for many years.
Speaking to The Times in 2021, Gyles Brandreth touched on this, stating, "[Philip] always hated the paparazzi. It started in 1949, the Queen and Prince Philip were taken to a restaurant to eat together and he noticed underneath the tablecloth a lens poking out on the other side of the room - it’s never stopped for 70 years."
This idea that William and Kate, especially, are bringing a modern sensibility to the royals has also been explored before. Actor Eugene Levy praised the Prince of Wales for his contemporary approach after the two spent time together for his Apple TV series, The Reluctant Traveler.
While appearing on Lorraine to discuss the show and his time with William, he said, "My sense was that it is kind of going to be a reinvigorated monarchy. He is setting the tone for something that is going to be not what you think it has always been".
