Queen's Elizabeth's surprising hobby - 'There was fun behind the formality'

ok.co.uk:

The late Queen Elizabeth was rarely seen without a handbag on her arm, and tucked inside usually would be her favourite lipstick, some mints, a pair of reading glasses – and occasionally her much-loved camera.

Accustomed to having her every move documented throughout her reign, she loved turning the lens on her own family and surroundings. “The Queen had a beautiful Leica camera, which she carried everywhere,” veteran royal photographer Arthur Edwards tells us. “In private moments, she liked to have her picture taken with Philip.” Elizabeth, who died in September 2022, would always take her camera on tour, capturing historical landmarks such as the Great Wall of China, which she visited with the Duke of Edinburgh in 1986.

Arthur, who was part of the press group on the trip, recalls how she and Philip posed for pictures for around 30 photographers before stepping onto the Great Wall itself. “When they got up there, the Queen was wearing sunglasses, and she got her camera out and said, ‘Philip, let’s have a picture.’ He replied, ‘But we’ve just done loads of photos,’ and she said, ‘Yes, but this one’s just for us.’” It seems the Queen inherited her love of photography from her father, King George VI, who first gave her an old-fashioned Kodak Box Brownie camera when she was a girl.

It was a hobby the royal family had begun in the 1920s, and her parents used to enjoy capturing her cheeky antics as a child. “Like many families, my parents wanted to keep a record of our precious moments together,” the Queen once said.