It was the 70th Anniversary of VJ Day and the Royal family were attending a number of engagements. I was assigned to cover the service at St Martin in-the-fields Church, which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh attended as well as the Prime Minister David Cameron. Following the morning service I made my way to my second engagement, which was to photograph a Reception hosted by the Royal British Legion for all the Veterans at the College Garden of Westminster Abbey, which Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall would meet Veterans and their families.

The Royal couple split up in order to meet as many Veterans as possible, so I had to split my time with each in order to get a good image of their interaction with the guests. Typically as I was photographing Prince Charles, a Press officer informed me that the Duchess was dancing with a Veteran, this sent alarm bells through me, because this is potentially a Great picture at what had been quite a static event and I’m missing it, however no image would be worth me rushing or moving recklessly and bumping into a Veteran, I’m 6ft 4 and don’t miss many meals so I have to be conscious of that fact in a crowded place and respect those around me rather than pursue a picture where the moment may already be lost……. Luckily as I move across the room in a controlled fashion I can see that Royal Navy Veteran Jim Booth (94) was not going to let his Royal dance partner off the hook until the tune was over, I arrived to snatch 7 or 8 frames, three of which were good and caught the spirit of the reception.