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Video footage of Queen Elizabeth II losing her cool with a group of photographers at a public event in 1988 has gone viral, after resurfacing on social media site, TikTok.
The queen—who died at the age of 96 in September 2022—rarely showed emotion in public, being famously committed to the royal family motto of "never complain, never explain." On the rare occasions that the monarch did let her personal thoughts or feelings known, it became headline news.
Uploaded to TikTok by user, the.royal.watcher, on July 22, footage of Elizabeth confronting a group of press photographers blocking her view of an equine event on the grounds of Windsor Castle has been viewed over 100,000 times so far.
The incident took place at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, an annual event that sees hundreds of horses from across Britain and the world compete in different disciplines and ceremonial maneuvers. Queen Elizabeth would attend the show each year in May over several days, often accompanied by members of her family.
The year the monarch vented her frustration at the group of photographers was 1988, when she was accompanied by her sister, Princess Margaret, to watch a carriage-driving event, in which her husband, Prince Philip was competing.
Captioned "The queen telling photographers off for blocking her and Margaret's view of Prince Philip carriage driving," the video shows the monarch sharply gesturing for the photographers to disperse as she told them: "Do you mind!"
The viral clip has received in excess of 2,500 likes and numerous comments, many of which have praised the late monarch.
"Iconic!" wrote one TikTok user.
"This is my Queen," posted another, with a further writing: "They sure moved quick."
Elizabeth is not the only member of the royal family to have outwardly expressed her frustration at photographers. The 1980s and 1990s became a paparazzi industry boom period, with members of the European royal houses becoming the focus of intense interest by accredited and freelance photographers.
Queen Elizabeth's daughter-in-law, Princess Diana also had issues with photographers. They would eventually be found in to have played a role in her death by an inquest.
Speaking in her 1995 bombshell interview for BBC's Panorama, Diana, shared her thoughts on the intensity of the press interest into her life.
"To this day, I find the interest daunting and phenomenal, because I actually don't like being the center of attention," she said.
"When I have my public duties, I understand that when I get out the car I'm being photographed, but actually it's now when I go out of my door, my front door, I'm being photographed. I never know where a lens is going to be."
"A normal day would be followed by four cars; a normal day would come back to my car and find six freelance photographers jumping around me. Some people would say: 'Well, if you had a policeman it would make it easier.' It doesn't at all," she told interviewer, Martin Bashir, who was found, by an independent inquiry in 2021, to have used "deceitful" behavior towards the princess to secure the interview.
"They've decided that I'm still a product after 15, 16 years that sells well," Diana said of photographers. "And they all shout at me, telling me that: 'Oh, come on, Di, look up. If you give us a picture I can get my children to a better school.'
"You know, you can laugh it off," she said. "But you get that the whole time. It's quite difficult."
The princess' son, Prince Harry, recently spoke out against intrusive photographers. Speaking about his mother's death which occurred as a result of a 1997 Paris car crash while she was being pursued by paparazzi photographers, the prince said it was a "wound that still festers."
""I think being part of this family, in this role, in this job, every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash it takes me straight back," he told a British broadcaster in 2019.
"So in that respect it's the worst reminder of her life as opposed to the best."
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more