Meghan Markle, Prince Harry’s Royal Wedding Was ‘The Worst’; ‘Angry' Groom Punished Photographers: Royal Expert
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding day was a "disaster," according to a royal photographer who was present to cover the event.
Arthur Edwards, The Sun's royal photographer, who covered several royal nuptials, opened up about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's royal wedding in 2018. Prince Harry and Markle just celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary, but for Edwards, it wasn't a great occasion to remember.
"I was there, hated the day," Edwards told Matt Wilkinson on The Sun's "Royal Exclusive Show." "The day was a miserable day."
He continued, "I can tell you now, it was the worst royal engagement I ever did, a royal wedding I ever did, because Harry was determined to keep the newspapers away from it as much as possible. Everything was done on long lenses."
Edwards said they used an 800 mm lens to photograph the arriving guests. Additionally, the photographers commissioned for the job were reportedly five feet away.
"It was just hopeless and then the carriage shot, when they went past me in the carriage, they looked the other way, so for me, it was a disaster," Edwards said.
When asked if it was a deliberate move from the Sussexes to make him feel that way, Edwards noted that he wasn't alone in feeling that way. According to him, "the whole British press" was "badly treated" in many ways.
"I think it was, Harry was angry with it really because some of the things that have said about Meghan and quite rightly, some of the things that were said about Meghan during the engagement were pretty harsh. I want to sort of mention them now, but they were some of them were pretty unfair as well and so he was angry," Edwards explained.
"And I felt, you know, we were punished for that. And in fact, I never got one picture in the paper published from that day."
In November 2016, Prince Harry released a statement through his communications secretary decrying the "wave of abuse and harassment" directed at his then-girlfriend and now-wife Markle. The statement had remained on the royal website for years but was quietly removed in December.
Edwards did numerous royal weddings, including King Charles' big day with Princess Diana and Queen Camilla. He was also present at Prince William and Kate Middleton's nuptials, as well as at Prince Andrew's and Prince Edward's. He said the other royal weddings were "lovely occasions," unlike the Sussexes' big day.
In the same interview, Edwards said Archie's birth was another "disaster." The photographer said many hoped to get a picture of Prince Harry and Markle's newborn son as it was a royal tradition, but he knew it was not happening.
"Harry's baby Archie was almost teething before we found out he was born, you know," Edwards sarcastically said. "We were led to believe that she had gone into labor at 2 o'clock when the baby had been born many hours earlier. We were led to believe it was going to be a home birth and it was in a hospital."
