Prince William and Duchess Catherine’s ‘informal drinks’ for photographers

Prince William and Duchess Catherine host “informal drinks” for their photographers.
The couple like to “have a chat” and get to know the people who travel with them on royal tours and take their pictures, so they always set aside some time for a relaxed get together.
Photographer Samir Hussein revealed: “They definitely recognise faces because we go around with them all the time and certainly on tour they usually put aside some time for us to meet them, they set up some kind of a bar and they come and have a drink with us and have a chat.
“When we’re on tour with them they tend to be a lot more relaxed, for instance when I was with William and Kate on their tour of India and Bhutan recently and they had informal drinks and I came and had a long chat with them both so that was good.”
Samir particularly enjoyed the couple’s recent tour of India and Bhutan because the pair got “really involved” with everything they could and he got some wonderful pictures of them.
Asked which was his favourite royal trip, he said: “I think it would have to be India and Bhutan a few months ago. Certainly for pictures that was the best. There’s nowhere really like India for photos, it just produces incredible scenes.
“It just makes really bright, incredible pictures. William and Kate, they were both great. They really got involved with playing football in the slums, playing cricket, they got involved with the archery in Bhutan and they went on hikes and did loads of stuff that you would never normally see them doing and in these beautiful settings as well. So certainly for pictures that was the best.”
And Samir – who is working closely with Butlin’s on a new campaign to encourage families to spend less time taking photos on their holiday by training a team of roving photographers to capture candid moments – prefers taking pictures of the royals when they are on trips abroad to engagements in the UK because they seem more “relaxed”.
He said: “With the royals you have to be a little bit more respectful, there’s a lot more protocol that goes with it but the thing I enjoy most is the travelling abroad with the royals because it’s very different to photographing them in this country. They seem a lot more relaxed going to more interesting places and you always get unique pictures when that happens. From a photography point of view that’s great and you get to travel to some incredible places around the world that you would never have the opportunity any other time so that’s what I appreciate most it is getting to travel abroad to these amazing places with the royals.”
Families who put Samir’s photo dos and don’ts into practice this summer can also share their snaps using #RealFamilyMoments and @Butlins. For more information visit www.butlins.com