Henry Dallal is the photographer who took what sadly proved to be the last official portrait of the Queen – a story he will tell when he offers a talk about his life and work at Chichester Festival Theatre on Friday, March 22 (tickets from the venue).
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers, and it's
00:07 a real pleasure this afternoon to speak to the very esteemed photographer Henry Dalal.
00:12 Now, Henry, you are doing a talk in Chichester Festival Theatre in the Minerva, I believe,
00:18 about your work, about your life as a photographer, but also obviously talking very much about
00:23 the years that you have spent photographing the Royal Family. And you've been covering
00:28 the Royal Family for more than 20 years, and your honour it was to take what proved to
00:35 be the very, very last official portrait of the Queen. Tell me how that came about. It
00:40 was for her 96th birthday, wasn't it?
00:44 Yes, it was originally scheduled to be used for the Platinum Jubilee, which would occur
00:51 a month, and we chose the blossoming magnolia tree being silver as the background, or platinum
01:01 coloured, and that's how it all came about. And then, to my surprise, it was Her Majesty's
01:08 wish to use that as the official 96th birthday.
01:13 And it's an absolutely beautiful, striking image, isn't it? That captures something very
01:19 natural as well. Tell me about the composition. That was your thinking, wasn't it?
01:24 Well, in a way, I mean, there were other ideas too, but basically, it was the magnolia tree
01:29 as the background. And then we had the Highland ponies being grey or white. And then I thought,
01:42 because of the whole composition of being white and silver and grey, Her Majesty should
01:49 be probably dressed in something dark. And then the colour composition of the whole thing
01:57 was very, very harmonious. And with her radiant smile, it made the picture.
02:03 Absolutely, and huge poignancy to that smile, given that that is actually the last official
02:09 portrait. And sadly, you did too cover the Queen's funeral. You felt you had to be there,
02:15 didn't you?
02:16 Yes, absolutely.
02:17 Why was that? Why did you need to be there?
02:21 Well, it just was the way, I mean, the Queen meant so much personally, as I'm sure to everyone
02:32 in the whole country. And everyone had their own way of dealing with it. And with my camera,
02:41 I felt that's the way I'm going to deal with it and try to photograph as much of the events
02:48 as possible, which I did.
02:49 Obviously, you're the professional, but that must feel like huge pressure because you're
02:53 at this massive event, and you are wanting to capture something that honours that event.
02:59 But you do that through research, through knowing the subject, through knowing where
03:03 to be.
03:04 Yeah, you have to know the route, you have to know the subject. And really, these photographs
03:11 are not, you know, I've got them in my collection, which I'll be hopefully using some in my new
03:17 book I'm doing on the Royal Muse. But the books are not meant to go out to, the photos
03:25 aren't meant for press. So the press have a certain eye to take a picture. I have a
03:30 different eye.
03:31 Yeah. But the point is, you felt that the funeral was beautiful and appropriate.
03:37 Oh, amazing. One of the most beautiful events, very, very moving and stirring.
03:44 And in a very different way, so too was the coronation, wasn't it, which you also covered?
03:51 Yeah, the coronation was brilliant. I mean, I was lucky enough to be able to do the rehearsals
04:00 at midnight, walk with the coach and with everybody. So in terms of manpower, the coronation
04:13 was far, far greater in number, as I learned later. But it was just beautiful, just beautiful.
04:27 And clearly you have an absolute love of British pageantry. Can you put your finger on why?
04:36 It's the best in the world. The whole world looks up to British pageantry, British nobility.
04:44 And I mean that because since I did my first book, I was invited to do several more books
04:56 with the RCMP, with the Indian Cavalry, with the Royal Cavalry of Oman, etc. The household
05:06 cavalry may not be the best riders because they are soldiers first. They're real soldiers
05:17 and they just come for ceremonial, do a couple of years on horseback. So they won't be necessarily
05:22 the best horse riders. But my God, the whole world looks up as the icon, as how to be,
05:32 what's correct. I mean, everywhere, everywhere I've seen. So I do think we need to be very,
05:39 very proud of what we've got. And, you know, there's soft power to it. It's very powerful.
05:46 Fantastic. Well, Henry, it sounds like it's going to be a fabulously interesting talk
05:51 that you will give at Chichester Festival Theatre on Friday, March the 22nd. Really
05:57 lovely to speak to you. Thank you for your time.
05:59 Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
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