Queen Elizabeth II: Press photographer reveals favourite Queen visit

Photographer Keith Taylor said getting this picture of the Queen visiting Hartlepool was a career highlight

A press and Royal Navy photographer has revealed his favourite image of the Queen during one of her visits.

Keith Taylor, from Spennymoor in County Durham, has covered dozens of royal events over the years.

He said a trip to a new sheltered housing complex in Hartlepool in May 1993 stood out as he was one of just four people in the room with the Queen.

He said he took four shots which "had to count", adding: "That day was a great highlight of my career."

Mr Taylor said he was "no stranger when it came to photographing members of the Royal Family" having been a photographer for the Royal Navy and North of England Newspapers, as well as freelancing.

But "nerves definitely kicked in" on the job at Bramley Court in Hartlepool as he was only given the brief that morning and it was just him, County Durham's Lord Lieutenant, a housing manager and the woman who lived in the flat.

"Eventually in came Her Majesty, absolutely full of smiles and so interested to hear the lady's story," Mr Taylor said.

"I could see she was aware of my presence and without any dialogue positioned herself so I could get a good shot of her meeting the lady.

"I managed to get four frames of the meeting and they had to count," he added.

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His first royal engagement was taking a picture of Prince Philip at the Clyde submarine base, and subsequent jobs included Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, opening St Cuthbert's hospice in Durham shortly after they were married in 1986.

He also photographed Princess Diana at Houghton-le-Spring and Princess Anne "on many occasions", as well as King Charles III, when the then Prince of Wales visited Consett in the aftermath of the town's steelworks closing.

The photographer said: "It was a bitterly cold morning and he said to the awaiting press 'I hope you lot have your woolly knickers on'.

"I will never forget those words, it just shows he's human like the rest of us."