Famed royal photographer Anwar Hussein dies as his son carry on his legacy

Anwar Hussein, the longest-serving official royal family photographer, died after a long illness on September 23.

News of the 85-year-old's death was announced in an obituary in The Times on Monday night (Tuesday AEDT), which also detailed how he revolutionised royal photography over the 50 years he was behind the lens.

It's something his two sons, Zak and Samir Hussein, have followed in his footsteps with, becoming award-winning royal photographers in their own right.

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Anwar, who began in entertainment photography, was unimpressed with the way in which the royal family were portrayed in the 1970s and went about it in a different way, something that humanised the monarchy more to the masses and softened their image.

"It struck me that official photographs of the royal family were very stiff and formal, so I set out to avoid that," he told Telegraph UK in 2016.

"I shot them from farther away and captured them between poses, to show them looking natural."

His photos were so loved by the likes of Queen Elizabeth, Princess Anne, Princess Margaret, Princess Diana and then-Prince Charles that they often were chosen to be the royal's official Christmas card photo, which is seen to be the highest form of praise.

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Anwar joined Queen Elizabeth on her Silver Jubilee tour of 1977 as Her Majesty's official photographer.

"She once told me that when she arrives in a new country and sees me there, the familiarity relaxes her," he told the publication.

Anwar's sons Zak and Samir told 9honey earlier this year that each time he travelled on royal tours he would return with special trinkets for them.

"He always brought back a little present for us wherever he went," Zak recalled.

"Being young, we're always excited - I mean, it was great to see him back - but of course, we were always excited about 'what's he going to bring back for us this time'.

"I think when he went to Thailand, he brought out this little wooden rikshaw and you know, these little things that I've kept to this day, but it's always exciting to see what he was going to bring back for us."

Samir added that his dad shared many funny stories when back home, particularly after travelling with Princess Diana in the '80s.

"We used to enjoy him coming back and telling us stories and especially when we started photographing the royals ourselves, it became even more interesting to hear all these stories," he told 9honey.

While the brothers admired their dad's work, it wasn't something they wanted to follow him into.

"Growing up so we're always surrounded by photography but he never ever pushed us to go into it," Samir told 9honey.

Samir studied journalism but said he "was always kind of interested in photography" and pursued it more after university, with Zak having a "pretty similar" story of getting into the biz.

They said after they started building up their own portfolios and showed they were serious about photography, it was only then Anwar started guiding them more.

"I think it was after that when we had shown quite a big interest in photography that my dad was like, 'Okay, you're serious about this' and sort of started helping us but before that he never pushed us into it," Samir said.

The boys both agreed having such a famous dad when going into the same business was both a blessing and a curse.

"I think you as a photographer had to prove yourself even more because he was such a great photographer," Samir told 9honey of first starting out.

"You had to really, really prove yourself probably more than anyone else that you were a good photographer yourself, especially in the industry. So I'd say it's a help and a hindrance."

Zak agreed, saying there were "pros and cons".

"We got a little bit of a hard time to start with, but you know, we've proved ourselves over time, so it's all worked out," he said.

The father and sons banded together earlier this year for the exhibition Princess Diana: Accredited Access, which not only ran in Australia but in the UK, US and Canada.

And like their dad's famous photos, Zak and Samir have had the world talking with some of their images.

For Samir, it's the iconic shot of Prince Harry and Meghan under an umbrella in the rain in London at the Endeavour Awards, one of their last engagements as senior working royals in 2020.

For Zak, it's a shot of a young boy grabbing Prince Harry's beard in Dubbo, during their royal tour of Australia in 2018.

But the pair have a little while yet to go to reach their father's iconic status.

Anwar is survived by his sons and wife, Caroline Morgan, who he married in 1978.

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