A Royal Wedding Blog

An interview with a royal photographer

2011-05-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

John Powell, a retired photographer, has taken pictures of royalty, presidents and celebrities.

We went along to interview him about his life behind the lens.

The 81 year-old former engineer, who is originally from Surrey, lives with his wife Jill in High Halstow, Kent.

In a career spanning more than 30 years, John has met countless TV, radio and film stars, as well as musicians. During our chat, he described Robert Redford as a "nice man", Pamela Stephenson as a "bitch" and surprisingly he described Bruce Forsyth as "horrible" and "miserable as sin"!

He also told us about:

his background and how he got into photography
his meetings with royalty and a little known secret about the Queen
the time he angered John Major
his thoughts about the paparazzi of today
what aspiring students should do to become successful

See photos on Flickr from the Royal Wedding

A Royal Wedding experience: a blog post

Feature: The experience of a Royal Wedding - Complete with photographs, video, audio, tweets and links

2011-05-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

Our reporter Maria Soleil was in London on April 29th and here is her blog post about the amazing events that took place that day:

It all started with a 5.25am train departing from Canterbury West. The difficulty of waking up at 4am was soon forgotten as I saw a group of men dressed up as nuns boarding the same train as me to St Pancras. Unsurprisingly, the train was far from empty and jovial strangers carrying beer, champagne and wine bottles were all seen on my journey into central London.

By the time I arrived at The Mall, thousands of people had already gained a spot from which to watch the festivities. Even before 7 o'clock, people were descending upon that 2-mile area of the capital. Faces stretched as far as the eye could see.

I met up with a fellow journalist from MSN, and we started chatting to tourists and Brits. People had come from as far as Australia and Russia just for this special day. A pair of elderly ladies who got a train at half four that morning from Newcastle should be admired. They were still full of energy when everyone else was flagging after the balcony kiss.

Read A Royal Wedding Blog's article about the people that had travelled thousands of miles to come and see the wedding.

We saw pensioners and teenagers draped in the Union Jack and kids with their faces painted. There were ladies wearing wedding hats, men in shorts with nothing else (on a fairly cold day) and babies in prams that would grow up and watch this all back on television in years to come.

Three scantily-clad lads weren't shy to have their picture taken

See more pictures of the revellers on the streets of London on the Evening Standard's website

At around 10am I went around the side of Clarence House, to see if I could spot any dignitaries or royalty leaving to be taken to Westminster Abbey for the wedding service. A steward told me she spotted David Cameron a few minutes earlier. Luckily I managed to spot Carole Middleton in her gorgeous light blue outfit.

The crowd was buzzing with energy and anticipation. In typical British fashion, there were cheers as roadsweepers and transit vans drove down The Mall. The biggest cheer however was saved for when the bride-to-be, Catherine Middleton, went past on her way to Westminster Abbey.

The wedding service was played out on speakers stretching along The Mall. When William and Kate were finally pronounced man and wife by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, cheers erupted from the assembled crowds. Corks from champagne bottles were popping all over the place. At that moment I felt goosebumps, and actually felt quite emotional for the first time that day.

Listen to the cheer of the crowds and sounds from the Household Cavalry band: Crowd cheering and Household Cavalry band by mariasoleil

The Household Cavalry band marched down The Mall, soon followed by William and Kate in their 1902 State Landau carriage, which was built for King Edward VII's Coronation. At this point it was impossible to get a clear view of the royal couple, although I did manage to catch a glimpse of their heads as their carriage took them past the vast media centre.

The structure that held the world's media

After a long wait, the thousands of fans lining The Mall were allowed to fill the space surrounding the Victoria Memorial. I was among the crowd surrounding the media centre, that were restricted from moving by barriers. The crowd soon became frustrated with being unable to move forward into the road, and after encouragement from a very vocal Australian journalist (shouting "Osborne took your jobs, so jump the barrier!") people began to climb over. Fitting in with the spirit of the day, young people helped the lesser-able among the crowd to climb over, and there was no rushing and very little pushing. I followed and ended up securing a good spot to view the balcony kiss.

The crowd wait to see William and Kate appear on the famous Buckingham Palace balcony

Were you among the thousands outside the Palace on Friday? Spot yourself in the BBC's HD 1.15 gigapixel picture.

After a brief kiss that most of the crowd seemed to miss, at 1.29pm and lasting for 1.25 seconds, The Sun says, the newly-titled Duke and Duchess of Cambridge kissed on the famous Buckingham Palace balcony. The crowd was awash with red, white and blue and at that point, I don't think I've ever felt more proud to be British.

The crowd went wild when the Royal Family appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace

After the kiss, the crowd awaited a fly past from the Royal Air Force and a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. This was a fantastic end to an historical day, and one milions of people will never forget.

Watch the fly past from the crowd's perspective:

After the royal appearances had come to an end, the crowds began to disperse and make their way home. But as I walked past the front of Buckingham Palace and the specially constructed press photographer stand, I encountered fancy dressed strangers taking pictures with one another, and friendly policemen chatting to tourists. There was dancing, singing and it was undoubtedly the biggest party atmosphere London had seen in the past 30 years.

People were keen to have their picture taken with dressed-up revellers

Press photographers with cameras worth thousands in the stand specially constructed for the wedding

On my journey home, I had a chance to reflect on the day's events, and I doubt I'll ever experience a day like it again. The public's spirit made it into an unforgettable day. Strangers were interacting, exchanging stories and a real buzz filled the air. The atmosphere was incredible.

Click to see photos on Flickr from the Royal Wedding

Also on A Royal Wedding Blog:

The wedding online
The public's opinion: audio feature
Photosynth: Buckingham Palace 3 weeks before the wedding

Worldwide visitors flock to the wedding

2011-05-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

People from across the globe descended on London on Friday to witness the pomp and ceremony of the Royal Wedding.

Our reporter Maria Soleil was there to venture into the crowds and find out where people had travelled from.

Kara and her daughter from Australia

Kara from Australia had been on The Mall since 3am on Friday morning. She booked a flight to come to London six months ago and was lucky that she happened to be in the city on the day of the wedding.

"It is the most unbelievable day of my life, I will remember it til I die. I've bought the scarf and everything! I’m looking forward to when they come out on the balcony. My mum’s taped everything, so when I get home to Australia I get to watch it with my mum and I can say I was there. It is a once in a lifetime thing, and to come from the other side of the world. I remember when I was five, it was the first time I was ever allowed to stay up late, to see Charles and Diana get married.”

Carmel Goulden from Vancouver, British Colombia, was stood on The Mall draped in the maple leaf flag of Canada. She said:

"This is absolutely fantastic, we flew over here on Easter Sunday so we got the very last day of your fabulous weather. This is the weather we were expecting anyway and it doesn’t really matter. We came just for this, as soon as this was announced we got on the phone and booked our BA flight and we booked our hotel. That was very smart because the rooms now cost triple the amount, and there’s none left anyway. We leave tomorrow. We just came for the wedding and then we’re out of here. I love the excitement and the people but to tell you the truth I want the kiss on the balcony. I don’t really care about the dress, she’s going to be gorgeous anyway, it doesn’t matter. “

Anna, a flight attendant from Georgia, America, got to Buckingham Palace at 6.30am. Click below to listen to the audio of our conversation:

Anna from Georgia by mariasoleil

Margaret and Jane from Sydney are huge fans of the royal family and flew over to Britain especially to see William and Kate tie the knot.

Jane and Margaret from Sydney

Margaret said: "We love the royals, she's been our Queen for 60 years and I think that's great. I think Charles will make a great King and William will be King to my grandkids and I really like the idea of that."

Jane added: "We've had two referendums and I'm delighted Australia still has the royal family."

New Yorker Mary and her husband were on the way to Italy for a holiday and decided to stop off two days early in London.

"We are so far back we can't see anything, but it's a great day, it's fun. The main event is the balcony, everyone’s taping it at home. I’m glad it didn’t rain. We got here about 6 this morning! We’ve been meeting so many people, I was talking to someone from the Philippines and then there was a lady from Canada, it's so fun, it's so international. We may decide to come back for the Jubilee next year!”

Inessa from Volgograd, Russia told us:

“Five months ago I made a reservation for a hotel here; I really wanted to see it. It’s hard to see though because it’s really very crowded. It’s very perfect, I love London. I think William and Kate make a really good pair. And she will make a really good Queen. I only came for the wedding.”

It wasn't just tourists on the streets of the capital. Listen to our chat with Frasier, a student from London, below:

Frasier from London by mariasoleil

Were you in London on the day of the wedding? Do you know anyone that was? Perhaps you travelled from abroad. Leave your comments below.

The wedding online

2011-04-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

A Royal Wedding Blog has compiled lists of the best news websites and tweeters to follow to get the latest information on the wedding.

Click the links on A Royal Wedding Blog's homepage to find the web's best coverage of Will and Kate's big day.

The wedding on the web

The wedding on Twitter

For news and features with more of personal touch, don't forget A Royal Wedding Blog.

Our Twitter

The public's opinion: Audio feature

2011-04-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

What does the great British public make of the most highly anticipated national event of recent years?

Canterbury Cathedral (image via Google)

Click play on the audio file below to hear views of people in one of the country's most historical cities, Canterbury.

Royal Wedding: what does the public think? by mariasoleil

What do you think about the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton? Is the royal family important to you? Leave your comments below.

The Royal Wedding: Live blog

2011-04-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

A Royal Wedding Blog's reporter Maria Soleil will be in London amongst the crowds on Friday.

Come back at 6am on the day of the wedding for coverage of events in our live blog.

Media preparations for the day

2011-04-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

Thousands of journalists from around the world have stationed themselves in London in the week leading up to the wedding day.

Here, Press Gazette details the coverage several large media organisations are giving to the event.

Following are some pictures taken by Maria Soleil, in the weeks leading up to the wedding.

An NBC News satellite truck by St James' Park

An NBC News Correspondent rehearsing links outside Buckingham Palace

This huge structure outside Buckingham Palace will house hundreds of journalists in make-shift TV studios

Construction work was still going on when this photo was taken

Maria Soleil will be in London on April 29th assisting MSN News with its royal wedding coverage.

Photosynth: Buckingham Palace 3 weeks before the royal wedding

2011-04-26T05:16:00.001-07:00

The calm before the storm that will be April 29th. Pictures taken on April 7th by Maria Soleil.