THEY have traveled the world with royals and been present for some of the family’s most intimate moments.
Now, for the first time in the UK, photographers Anwar Hussein, 86, and his two sons, Samir, 44, and Zak, 43, are displaying their remarkable images of Princess Diana and her family, along with personal accounts of the stories behind each image.
Zak took The Sun on an exclusive tour of the immersive exhibition in London, giving us our first look at a gallery that includes photos he and his brother took of William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Walesas well as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan.
Here he reveals some of the background to his father’s iconic work and recalls what it was like growing up among royalty, plus which photograph was Diana’s favorite. . .
The Princess Diana: Accredited Access exhibition takes place from Saturday, May 25th, until Monday, September 2nd, at Dockside Vaults, in London. For tickets, visit princessdianaexhibit.com.
Play Date Plan
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As a mother, Diana adored her sons William and Harry – and once tried to arrange a play date for them with young Zak and Samir.
Zak, who remembers the princess watching Charles play polo when he was a child, said: “My dad used to bring my brother and I along. William and Harry were about the same age as Samir and me.
“When I was six or seven, my dad was talking to Diana and when she saw us she said, ‘You must come to Highgrove!’. My dad said, ‘No, no, you have to come to our house.’ She said, ‘I think this is going to be difficult.’ Unfortunately, the meeting never took place.”
Diana’s tears
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DIANA herself was captivated by this photo of her cradling a child with cancer on a private visit to Pakistan in 1997.
Zak said: “This photo my dad remembers taking really well. She visited an oncology hospital and met all these children, including this boy.
“My father remembers how the boy looked at ease and comforted, and he remembers the tears in Diana’s eyes as he took the photo.
“Afterwards, Diana said to my father, ‘Of all the photos you took, this is probably my favorite.’”
Individual trip to the Taj Mahal
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A VISIT to the Taj Mahal in India in 1992 didn’t go as planned for Charles and Diana because he had other commitments – so the princess was photographed there alone.
Zak said: “The royal tours are definitely my favorite part of the job as you get to visit amazing places.
“My father always spoke with pride about the Taj Mahal photo. It was a place that Charles always promised to take Diana and, when they were in India, it was in the itinerary. But on the day. . . Diana ended up going and posing alone. So she was standing outside this huge monument to love and showing the loneliness she felt at that moment.
“It became such an iconic photo and the bench is now known as the Diana bench.
“About 24 years later, I was on tour with William and Kate in India and the last engagement was at the Taj Mahal. We weren’t sure if they were going to pose in front of it, but they ended up doing it. So it’s amazing that I took a photo of Diana’s son years after my father took a photo of Diana.”
Shaking hands with ‘Untouchable’
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Wearing an elegant cream dress, Princess Diana crouched down to shake hands with a so-called “Untouchable” – considered the lowest in India’s ancient caste system.
Zak said of the February 1992 image: “She was so good with people and so kind and compassionate, which can be seen in the photo my father took of her in India, shaking hands with the ‘Untouchable’.
“She changed the way these people were viewed because she was interested in all people from different backgrounds.”
Revenge dress
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ON the night in 1994 that then-Prince Charles admitted to cheating on his wife Diana, she bravely attended a Vanity Fair party in this form-fitting outfit that became known as her “revenge dress.”
Zak explained: “Every day as a royal photographer is so different. You are documenting historyphotographing things like coronations, royalty weddings it’s real babies.
“Sometimes you don’t even realize you’re documenting history until afterward, like this photo my father took of Diana wearing her ‘revenge dress’ the night Charles made his notorious admission of adultery. television.”
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