Hundreds of photographers will try to capture the perfect image of the coronation on Saturday. But one faces a more difficult task: to make King Charles III an icon.
Hugo Burnand, 59, is the coronation’s official portrait photographer and, shortly after the newly crowned Charles returns to Buckingham Palace, has just minutes to snap a historic image of the monarch.
Mr Burnand said in a recent interview that he tried to treat the track like any other: “I have to do what I do best and let history take care of itself,” he said.
But some experts say he faces a significant challenge. Paul Moorhouse, a curator who oversaw a major UK exhibition of portraits of Queen Elizabeth II in 2012, said in an email that Mr. Burnand had to capture the glory of the monarchy while appealing to younger generations skeptical of the institution.
“It’s going to be a tough balancing act,” said Mr Moorhouse of creating an image that does both things. Unfortunately for Mr Burnand “there is no model” to copy, Mr Moorhouse added, as previous coronation photographers worked during times when Britain was enthralled by the idea of a monarchy.
For centuries, the British royal family has commissioned artists to paint coronation portraits. Since the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902, it has also commissioned photographers, hoping to produce captivating images for newspapers around the world.
The task is not for the faint hearted. Cecil Beaton, the official photographer for the coronation of Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953, wrote in his diaries that he was so nervous the night before that he drank heavily during dinner and woke up with a hangover.
When he came to photograph the queen, he felt that the lighting was not right, but he did not have time to change anything. “I was banging and getting shots at a fast pace,” he wrote. “I had only a vague idea of whether to take black and white or color or give the right exposure.”
Mr Burnand, a former society photographer for Tatler magazine, was perhaps an unsurprising choice for this coronation, as he had a long relationship with the royal family.
In 2004, the royals asked him to shoot Charles and Camilla’s wedding the following year, but Mr Burnand said when he got the email he initially turned down the job. He was on sabbatical in Bolivia and had just been robbed, he said. “I stole all the family’s passports, and our money, and my cameras!” Mr. Burnand remembered that he had answered.
However, he quickly changed his mind and the wedding turned out to be a career breakthrough. Beforehand, he said, he felt like he was “really flapping my wings” as he tried to fly. After that, he didn’t have to wait for the phone to ring with job offers.
A few years later, he took the official portrait for Charles’s 60th birthday. (Charles was portrayed in a surprisingly casual manner, reclining in a gold chair.) And he also photographed the wedding of Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales in 2011, making the occasion look somehow intimate by the photograph newlyweds surrounded by pageboys and bridesmaids.
During the recent interview, Mr Burnand said he hated having his own portrait done, but the feeling made him a better photographer as he tried to make his sitters feel as comfortable as possible.
Being prepared also helps. He said he spent weeks studying images of previous coronations. He also tried to account for anything that could go wrong, such as equipment failure. And he even researched the environmental impact of his camera gear to make sure it was in sync with Charles’s pro-environmental stance.
Now, said Mr. Burnand, he just wanted to get going: “Bring it on! Bring it on! Let’s do this!”