Royals

The royal wedding photo that stole the show and the intriguing story behind who took it and how

Those who've seen it have been struck by the heart shape that Meghan and Harry's bodies form.

The world is abuzz with talk of the first official royal wedding photos which were released overnight (NZ time) by Kensington Palace.

The three images include two family portraits with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle centre stage, and one shot of the happy couple sitting happily on the steps of the East Terrace of Windsor Castle.

But while much has been made of the three photographs, which were taken by official wedding photographer Alexi Lubomirski, word is spreading fast about another image so captivating and romantic it has inspired the imaginations of all who’ve seen it.

This is the stunning image, uncropped…

Yui Mok’s incredible overhead photo of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

Taken by staff photographer Yui Mok of the Press Association, the overhead shot shows the couple in their Ascot Landau Carriage as they make their way around Windsor Castle and town in their 25-minute procession ride.

Those who’ve seen it have been struck by the heart shape that Meghan and Harry’s bodies form as they sit side by side. Its simplicity is breathtaking.

And while it looks like something that would have been styled to the hilt, it was all captured in a split second as the couple sped below Mok, who was standing above on the roof of George IV Gateway of Windsor Castle, over a grill.

Apparently he had a “one-second window” to get the shot, and he also had to make sure his camera was in complete focus so that he wouldn’t get the grill that he was standing over.

Mok’s original post featuring the shot created aTwitter storm, stirring up 36,000 retweets and 176,000 likes in just one day. Mok has been somewhat taken by surprise by the amount of attention his image has received, tweeting, “Yikes, I’ve never been a ‘Twitter Moment’ before!”

Clearly gracious in his newfound fame, when explaining how he got the shot he made a point of acknowledging the Press Association staff on the picture desk, who “crop and tidy up raw images”.

“I should also add a big thanks to the @PA picture desk, who crop and tidy up the raw images that we send to them directly from our cameras on big jobs like this, before they are issued to the wider world. They tend to be unsung, whilst photographers end up grabbing all the glory.”

Mok said he had to wait around for hours, to get just a “few seconds of shooting.”

Clearly, it was worth the wait.

Related stories