Slumped in the back seat of his Range Rover, a visibly shaken man once referred to as the “Playboy Prince” stares ahead as the car leaves Aylsham police station in Norfolk, England.
The photo, taken by Reuters photographer Phil Noble, went viral when it was published late on Thursday (local time). It shows Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles, after he was released from police custody following a day of questioning.
When news that Mountbatten-Windsor had been arrested broke early on Thursday, Manchester-based Noble began the six-hour drive south to Norfolk.
Following a tip, Noble headed to the police station in the historic market town of Aylsham, where not much was going on. There were a couple of other members of the media there, and soon enough, six or seven hours went by. Darkness fell. Still, nothing was happening. It seemed like this was the wrong station – after all, it was well over an hour’s drive from Mountbatten-Windsor’s Norfolk home.
Noble packed up and started heading down the road towards his hotel when he got a call from his colleague, Reuters video journalist Marissa Davison. Mountbatten-Windsor’s cars had arrived, she said.
Noble raced back, just in time to see the two vehicles leaving at high speed. The front car contained two police officers, so Noble aimed his camera and flash at the car behind.
He took six frames – two showed police, two were blank, and one was out of focus. But one captured the unprecedented nature of the moment: for the first time in modern history, a senior royal was being treated as a common criminal. The image was used extensively by media worldwide.
“You can plan and use your experience and know roughly what you need to do, but still everything needs to align,” said Noble. “When you’re doing car shots it’s more luck than judgment.”
Reuters
