Royal photographer Arthur Edwards recalls "At least I've got a job!" row with King Charles

Royal photographer Arthur Edwards, 86, has described a 1980 row with then-Prince Charles that ended with him shouting "At least I've got a job!" as the prince galloped off at Highgrove, the Gloucestershire home that is now the king's. Edwards told The Telegraph about the argument in an interview published on 26 October 2026, ahead of his book Cup of Tea, Arthur? My Extraordinary 50 Years Photographing the Royal Family.

Edwards works as The Sun's royal photographer, a job he has held for about half a century. In that time he has photographed members of the royal family, along with princes, popes and presidents. In July 2026, The Sun reported that he had been given a lifetime achievement award for his 50 years of royal pictures.

His relationship with the royals did not start smoothly. Hello! magazine reports that King Charles remembered first meeting Edwards in 1976, when the photographer was crawling through undergrowth in pursuit of royal pictures. Edwards has also described his approach to the work as aggressive, and the two men clashed more than once.

The king has since spoken warmly about him. In a 2018 speech honouring Edwards, King Charles called him "a very good photographer, a jolly good bloke and a very special person." Edwards has said that the two now have a simple arrangement: "He calls me Arthur, and I call him Sir."

Edwards has been candid about his methods in other interviews. In a 2025 conversation with The Sun, he said he had hidden in a bush to take bikini photographs of the pregnant Princess Diana. He also said he had once caused King Charles to storm off.

Edwards has written about the royals before. His earlier book, Behind the Crown, featured King Charles and Queen Camilla, and was reported by People in 2023.

Edwards also says that Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022, kept some of his pictures. He told Hello! that he sent her a selection of his photographs each year, and that she pasted them into her diaries during her summer holidays at Balmoral, the Scottish estate the royal family uses in August and September.

The new book is the latest chapter in a long working relationship that has produced some of the most familiar royal pictures of the past half century. Its pages, Edwards says, cover the rows as well as the photographs.