Queen Elizabeth.Photo: Julian Calder/Camera Press/Redux
Major General Alastair Bruce is amongQueen Elizabeth’s most trusted aides.
But the now-famous portrait might not have happened at all due to the weather. On the morning of the shoot, it poured. Bruce, who showed the Queen three possible shooting locations and settled on the scenic moors, told her it would stop raining in time.
Queen Elizabeth.Camera Press/Redux
“She said, ‘I thought we were going to be doing it in the garden, but I’ll see how I feel after lunch,’ " Bruce says in the new issue of PEOPLERoyals.
As the day unfolded, the clouds cleared and the Queen agreed to stand for the portrait (with a sheet on the ground to protect the taffeta!).
Queen Elizabeth and Alastair Bruce.
For more on Alastair Bruce, you can find the spring issue of PEOPLERoyalson newsstands now or subscribe atpeopleroyals.com/launch.
At the start of the shoot, Calder stepped forward, bowed and asked: “May I take command, Your Majesty?” She agreed and when the photos were done, he relinquished his “command.”
“She really appreciated it,” Bruce recalls.
Jamie Bennett
“There was the Queen dressed like that in the front seat of a Land Rover,” Bruce recalls. “They were fascinated because nothing usually happens in the middle of that moor.”
“The Queen said something like, ‘They must think I am going out for dinner.’ And I said, ‘They probably think you dress like that for dinner every day!’ " Bruce continues.
He also managed to coax charming details out of the Queen in 2018 for a documentary about the Crown Jewels and her Coronation. And he’s a regular contributor to ABC and Sky News on constitutional and royal issues.
Bruce is now the governor of Edinburgh Castle — a post that sees the reservist army officer welcoming his boss the Queen and her family whenever they come to the Scottish capital.
“It’s the pinnacle of my career,” he shares.
source: people.com
