Page 322 - They Also Served

Lichfield soon became well-known in his own right, partly because of his access to the royal family and his many show business contacts. Indeed, some of his early work included the wedding of Mick and Bianca Jagger and a portfolio of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in exile. During the latter sitting, he deliberately fell off his chair to force a smile from his grim-faced subjects – the resulting photographs secured him a contract with Vogue magazine. Other famous subjects included Michael Caine and Joanna Lumley, and his work captured the spirit of ‘The Swinging Sixties’ as did his reputation as a ladies’ man.
In 1981, he was selected to take the official photographs of the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, using a whistle to marshal guests for the pictures. Then, as the Queen’s cousin once removed, he sat down to the banquet with the royals in his own right. However, he was happiest behind the lens and liked to be referred to as plain Patrick Lichfield. A pioneer of digital photography, he was chosen to take the official photographs to mark the Queen’s golden jubilee in 2002 and, in 2003, his work was recognised by an exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery. One of his last assignments was a series of images to commemorate Baroness Thatcher’s 80th birthday in April 2005, after which, she said: ‘Always courteous and considerate, he has a rare skill which is now sadly gone’.
Despite his reputation as a photographer of glamorous subjects, he produced some more highbrow work. Commissioned to compile a portfolio of images to promote the British Tourist Board, he said: ‘At last something I am proud to identify with – I’d like to be taken seriously before it’s too late’. Patrick Lichfield died in November 2005. The editor of Tatler, Geordie Greig, said of him: ‘He wasn’t complicated, he wasn’t pretentious, he wasn’t an intellectual, he just loved making beautiful images’.
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