Sandringham Royal photos picked for Jubilee exhibition

A photo of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother - appearing to look directly at Edward Jackson - will be exhibited at Kensington Palace

Photos of the Royal Family taken by an amateur photographer are to be exhibited at Kensington Palace.

Edward Jackson, 72, of King's Lynn in Norfolk, made a hobby of snapping the royals when they visited Sandringham.

His nephew unearthed hundreds of photos after his death in November, and offered six for an exhibition to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

Stephen Jackson said he was "amazed" that photos of the Prince of Wales and the Queen Mother were chosen.

Mr Jackson captured the Prince of Wales at the Sandringham Flower Show in July 1989

Kensington Palace had made an appeal for pictures to mark the Queen's 70 years on the throne ahead of an exhibition which opens this week.

"We never dreamed they would have two - Ed would be blown away, just like us," said Jo Jackson, Stephen's wife.

"If he was here he would have definitely taken part in it.

"It's better than we could have imagined."

Mr Jackson's hobby was known by the family, but the extent of his archive was a mystery until the couple, also of King's Lynn, began sorting through his home.

Among many thousands of slides of holidays, family gatherings and landscapes were shots of the royals walking to church at Christmas and meeting crowds at the annual Sandringham Flower Show.

The retired newsagent had worked in London for a period in the late 1970s, where he documented the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations.

Edward was close to his nephew Stephen and was best man at his and Jo's wedding in 1998

"We had friends come around and when they saw all the boxes [of slides], they asked 'have you really been through all those'," said Mrs Jackson.

"But other people can now enjoy what he's done, so it's been well worth it."

Mr Jackson's photos are among 40 by members of the public which were chosen for the Life Through A Royal Lens exhibition, which opens on Friday.