A few weeks ago, British photographer John Swannell accidentally said something mildly critical and factual about the new Princess of Wales. Swannell said that Kate should use her keenness for photography to give work to up-and-coming British photographers, and that Kate is “not a great photographer, but she just snaps away, and with kids it’s easier if you know them.” I covered his comments and it was just a funny and mild story. I mean, we can clearly see that Kate isn’t some super-talented photographer, despite what her embiggening campaigners claim. But she has a right to take pictures of her kids and whatever, you know? Well, I guess people were mad. Mad enough to frog-march this same photographer, John Swannell, back to the Daily Mail just so he could say something insulting about the Duchess of Sussex. Curious!

A royal photographer claims Princess Diana would not have been a fan of Meghan Markle. John Swannell, who was personally commissioned by the princess to take what became classic portraits of her with her sons, predicts Diana would think that Meghan has ‘stolen’ Prince Harry.

He claims the Duchess of Sussex has turned Harry into a ‘puppet,’ alleging that she had her own ‘agenda’ when she joined the Royal Family.

Princess Diana was such a great admirer of Mr Swannell’s work, but he does not believe, however, that she would have been an admirer of the Duchess of Sussex.

‘I don’t think she would have liked her, because she’d think she’d stolen her son,’ Mr Swannell told The Daily Mail at Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair. ‘He’s like a puppet now.’

The photographer, 75, is convinced that former Suits star Meghan was determined to meet a future husband in this country.

‘She seemingly had an agenda when she came over,’ he claims. ‘She was a little known actress and an opportunity came up, and she took it, like anybody would. But she’s a very smart woman, that’s for sure. She’s an operator.’

[From The Daily Mail]

How do we go from “random dude makes an observation about the poor quality of Kate’s photos of her kids” to “random dude hisses that Meghan is a vile, manipulative snake and Diana would have hated her!” It’s almost as if – hear me out – the Mail issued Swannell some talking points and he recited those talking points back to a Mail reporter. Was he paid or something? Or is he truly just a random guy who hates Meghan? Judging solely from their reaction to Meghan and her marriage, these tabloids make it seem like British men cannot handle it when a woman has a career, makes money, has wit, a work ethic and intelligence.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.