BBC News Online: UK

Smile! William photo touched up

Sir Geoffrey Shakerley - brother-in-law to Lord Lichfield, the Queen's cousin - took the pictures of the bride and groom, members of their families and foreign Royals.

He said Prince Edward decided his nephew "was not looking his best", so the photo was digitally altered to replace William's face with one from another shot where he is smiling.

Sir Geoffrey told ITN News: "Prince Edward said he didn't think Prince William looked absolutely his best, so digitally we were able to put in another picture of Prince William from one of the other shots where he is smiling and laughing."

Reproduction on the Internet of the official family wedding photos has been banned by Prism Rights Ltd, a subsidiary of the Bagshot Park Charity, a trust named after the Royal couple's home in Surrey. The trust will covenant all funds raised from coverage of the wedding to charity.

"If the photo were to be put out on the Internet it would be a free for all and the charity would not benefit at all," said Henry Boyd-Carpenter, one of the charity's trustees and private solicitor to the Queen and Prince Edward.

Charities likely to benefit are those with which the Royal couple are personally involved.

And some funds may go to the St George's School Appeal, whose choir sang at the wedding.

Royal family 'euphoric'

There was no need to touch up the smiles of other family members, who came in from St George's Chapel to be photographed in the state apartments at Windsor in a flurry of excitment, he said.

"Everybody was very euphoric, very happy and there was a lot of chat and banter going on," he said.

Sophie Rhys-Jones, now the Countess of Wessex, was calm and composed for the photo session, he said.

"She was incredibly relaxed and very natural, very easy, needed very, very little encouragement or direction from me."

Sir Geoffrey also said telephone directories were used to make the more diminutive guests look taller, an idea he said he got from Lord Lichfield, the Queen's cousin.

"He said whatever you do take telephone books. We didn't take enough," said Sir Geoffrey. "We took 10 huge Yellow Pages and that caused a certain amount of merriment - everybody standing on Yellow Pages."

Replica on show

A replica of Sophie's wedding dress was unveiled earlier in the day - less than 48 hours after the royal marriage.

The bridal firm Berkertex Brides had the dress remade in all its beaded glory for the BBC consumer magazine programme Face Value.

A team of designers and dress-makers worked around the clock to complete the gown, which is on display at the Berkertex shop in London's Regent Street, but it is not for sale.

"We did it just to prove that it could be done and how fast it could be done," said Helen Marina, who designed the copy.

You can see how the replica was made on BBC One's Face Value at 7pm on Thursday 24 June.

Relevant Stories

Modest audience for Royal Wedding (21 Jun 99 | Entertainment)
Your greetings to the royal couple (21 Jun 99 | Talking Point)
Royal couple join waxworks (20 Jun 99 | royal wedding)
Stars and royalty at wedding of the year (19 Jun 99 | royal wedding)

Internet Links

The British Monarchy

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

In this section

Next steps for peace
Blairs' surprise over baby
Bowled over by Lord's
Beef row 'compromise' under fire
Hamilton 'would sell mother'
Industry misses new trains target
Quins fightback shocks Cardiff (From Sport)
Vodafone takeover battle heats up (From Business)
IRA ceasefire challenge rejected
Thousands celebrate Asian culture
Christie could get two-year ban (From Sport)
Colleagues remember Compo (From Entertainment)
Mother pleads for baby's return
Toys withdrawn in E.coli health scare
Nurses role set to expand (From Health)
Israeli PM's plane in accident
More lottery cash for grassroots
Pro-lifers plan shock launch
Double killer gets life
Cold 'cure' comes one step closer (From Health)
Straw on trial over jury reform (From UK Politics)
Tatchell calls for rights probe into Mugabe
Ex-spy stays out in the cold
Blair warns Livingstone (From UK Politics)
Smear equipment `misses cancers' (From Health)
Boyzone star gets in Christmas spirit (From Entertainment)
Fake bubbly warning
Murder jury hears dead girl's diary
Germ warfare fiasco revealed (From UK Politics)
Blair babe triggers tabloid frenzy
Tourists shot by mistake
A new look for News Online