22 Apr 2020

Royals photographer turns lens to birds under Covid-19 lockdown

From Checkpoint, 6:22 pm on 22 April 2020

If Her Majesty the Queen was a feathered creature, which one would she be?

Royal Photographer Arthur Edwards has some ideas. With the Queen and the UK's royal family in lockdown for the past three weeks, the 40-year veteran is training his lens on his garden in Essex. 

"My darling wife and I love it, we haven't spent this much time together since we had a holiday in New Zealand for three weeks. The weather's been glorious." 

Wednesday is Queen Elizabeth's birthday. Usually Edwards would be capturing the celebration, but not this time. 

"The Queen's at Windsor with the Duke, and she's very, very isolated. The Prince of Wales as you know, has already had the virus and recovered. He and the Duchess are up at Balmoral… and William and Catherine at their home in Norfolk." 

Under lockdown Edwards has noticed bird life flourishing in his garden. 

"I was sitting out there one morning and I saw this robin, very bold, and I thought I'd go and take a couple of pictures of him.

"I've got all the long lenses for covering the Royals, so it wasn't difficult. 

"And I shot a really nice picture and I just posted it. And the interest was huge. Over 1,000 people liked it. 

"Then I was out there one day and there was a blackbird collecting for his young, obviously his wife, hen is sitting on the eggs so he's collecting worms and grubs for her. 

"These are all English country garden birds… I've spent a lot of money on bird food, so they know where to come and get fed.

"I thought I've got to get one flying, well of course they fly at an incredibly fast rate. I spent two hours one day until I got a picture of a robin flying, and then the goldfish came. We don't often see goldfinches much. Stunning looking birds, and it gives you a little buzz." 

Like much of the world, the UK is much quieter under lockdown, with cars only used for essential journeys, Edwards said. 

"The lane where we live, there's almost no traffic so it's peaceful. And so the birdsong has become much more prominent now. 

"The robin has become the star, because each garden in Britain has a resident robin, it makes his nest normally nearby and one of the hedges. And very early in the morning when the sun's coming up, I've done pictures in that golden hour of the robin, beautifully lit, his beautiful red breast bursting in colour. 

If the robin were a member of the royal family, who would he be? 

"He would be probably Prince Harry if he was still here. You know, beautiful red breast, with Harry's beautiful red hair.

"He was in my view one of the nicest, greatest person to work with… I remember when we came to New Zealand with him."

The Queen has given Harry a year to think about his and Meghan's departure from the royals, and Edwards thinks there could be a return. 

"I kind of still hope he will. Because every picture I've seen of him in Los Angeles, he looks so sad. It doesn't look like he's enjoying it at all. And he was walking around hand in hand with Meghan looking absolutely miserable. And I felt sorry for him.

"I can't wait to get back on the royal beat, to be honest.  I am missing it. I know after 40 years you think have you had enough of it? Well, no, I haven't."

But he is seeing some similarities between the birds and the royals. 

"The goldfinch, I mean that is a beautiful, well-dressed bird… Imagine a red hat on one of the royal ladies, they are beautiful creatures. 

"When the Royals go out to work,  especially the ladies, they always dressed beautifully. 

"And, of course, these birds they're dressed for the summer and they look very beautiful too."

Which birds best represent which royals? 

Edwards' favourite - the robin - has to be Harry and the Queen, he said. 

"The goldfinch is Kate, the blackbird is Charles because he never stops working, the blackbird, he works tirelessly. 

"The tits are the grandchildren, George, Charlotte and Louis. The main one of course is the goldfinch, the prima donna. She's Catherine and she looks stunning." 

And Meghan? "I can't tell yet... the old crow hasn't come in the garden yet. No I don't mean that… we've got to still find Megan. She's yet to come into the garden. I think I'll know when she gets there."