THE late Queen called a royal photographer a “horrible little man” after he took a snap of an “unstable” Princess Diana riding a horse, he has claimed.
Speaking on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, Jim Bennett, who has spent years snapping the Firm, recalled being present when Diana was having a riding lesson.
Jim told The Sun’s Royal Editor Matt Wilkinson: “Many years ago, back in the 80s, the Queen was trying to teach Diana how to ride along with some grooms.
“They were at Sandringham, and the Queen had taken her out, and for some unknown reason, she decided to take her on the main road across towards Anmer Hall, which is where William and Kate now live.
“But she was coming down that road, and they were riding along together.
“They saw us, and I expected them to sort of veer off, but obviously, Diana was very unstable on the horse.
“I mean, she was gripping like, ‘please, you know, let me get on with it. And let me get off.’”
Jim said as the Queen got close to him, he looked for somewhere to move back to, so he wouldn’t be in her way.
He added: “But they kept on coming, and we did the pictures.
“And literally, as they got level with us, she looked down at me, and she said, ‘You are one horrible little man.’”
Jim was taken off guard by her words, and added: “At that very moment, I felt, I wish there was a big hole I could disappear into, because just by her saying it and looking at you, she, just, there was something about her.
“She had an aura about her.”
Jim recalled how he next came face to face with the Queen again during one of the royal tours, and shared how he handled the moment.
He continued: “I forget where the tour was.
“Got a funny feeling it might have been in Jordan, and they used to travel on the royal yacht.
At the beginning of the tour, they used to always invite the press to come and have a few bevvies with them on the royal yacht, in the ballroom.
“And this tour happened about three weeks after I took that picture, and I had to go on because you had no choice.
“And I got introduced to the Queen and the Duke, and the only thing I could do was look at my feet.
ANDREW Morton, author of 1992 biography, Diana: Her True Story: In Her Own Words, shed light on the bond between the two women.
He claimed the the relationship between Princess Diana and the late Queen was a polite but formal one, “governed by the fact that she was married to her older son and a future Monarch.”
He added: “In the early days, Diana was quite simply terrified of her mother-in-law.
“She kept the formal obsequies—dropping a deep curtsy each time they met—but otherwise kept her distance.”
However, Andrew wrote that Diana was supported by the monarch and suggested “perhaps a rather unlikely ally at the palace in the Queen whose understanding and helpful attitude did much to encourage Diana to soldier on.”
Royal biographer Ingrid Seward wrote in 2001 while the monarch “never directly addressed the question of his marriage, but by nod and nuance, she made it clear she approved of Diana.”
“I couldn’t bring myself to look her in the eye, and nor did she.
“When that piece had been done, you all had to join a group, and she would come around and chat to the various groups of photographers.
“But I just made sure I moved from group to group, and never, ever got involved.
“I was that frightened.”
The royal photographer also claimed he was there when the Queen made her infamous “think carefully” comment ahead of the 2014 Scottish referendum.
