Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was ridiculed for a project years before his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein brought shame on the former prince
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was slammed for a Brooklyn Beckham style photography book, years before the Epstein scandal. The late Queen Elizabeth’s son was once said to be “very serious about his photography.”
World-renowned photographer Gene Nocon once worked as Andrew’s technical assistant in order to help the former prince nurture his “instinctive aesthetic eye”. When Mountbatten-Windsor had the world at his feet, he was reportedly encouraged to reveal his passion to the world.
This led the man formerly known as Prince Andrew to release a photography book in 1995, which has drawn comparisons to Brooklyn Beckham’s What I See, released in June 2017. Andrew’s book, Photographs: Andrew, Prince Duke of York, was “a small slice of autobiography recording memories and impressions through my eyes and the lens of a camera”.
The former Duke of York said: “This is a book by me, tyro-photographer, rather than by me, member of the Royal Family.” The book featured images of Andrew’s royal relatives, as well as actress Finola Hughes, mostly in black and white, offering an unprecedented glimpse into the life of a senior working royal.
But despite Andrew’s former status as a popular royal and the late Queen’s favourite son, the book was widely criticised, with The Los Angeles Times branding it “sad and pathetic”. The book featured images of a younger Prince Harry, seen holding a bucket and spade while onboard the former Royal Yacht Britannia.
Another image showed the young Duke of Sussex on a swing facing away from the camera. Tim Hughes, who at the time was the associate editor of the British Journal of Photography, slammed the images of Harry, calling them “technically very poor”.
He went on to add: “The printers have had the unenviable task of trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” Elsewhere, Professor John Hedgecoe of the London School of Art said Harry’s face “is just like a mask,” describing the royal’s eyes as “black slits”. Kodak’s head of customer relations said in a huge swipe: “It is an absolute mess. If it were possible to take the child out of the swing altogether, it would have been better; the rope cuts across his face. I don’t like this one at all.”
But even Andrew struggled to defend himself in an interview, saying the images “weren’t particularly brilliant.” He claimed the then-Prince Charles was pushing Harry out of the shot.
The shamed royal said: “A small baby, what was everybody expecting? Were they expecting a Snowdon like portrait? I’m not that brilliant.” Despite his passion, Andrew refused to rule out taking up photography on a full-time basis, despite, as he said “the conflict between myself as a photographer and myself as a member of The Royal Family.”
He said: “I don’t see myself necessarily doing it as a full-time job. I don’t think I could find the time. Who knows? Maybe, in 20 years’ time?” Last year, Andrew was stripped of all royal titles and kicked out of his home, Royal Lodge, owing to his association with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. He denies all allegations made against him.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn, the eldest son of Sir David Beckham and Lady Victoria Beckham, was ridiculed for his photography book in 2017. One image in particular saw Beckham share a snap of an elephant while on safari, famously saying the animal was ‘hard to photograph.’
The images were slammed as “terrible photographs and even worse captions,” while publisher Random House defended the book, saying it was in his teenage fans’ interest. He hasn’t released another photo book since.
Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
