Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s engagement photographer says they were ‘so deliciously in love’

'It was one of the easiest, most joyful jobs'

They were the pictures that announced to the world that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are well and truly in love.

Now, the man who captured the future royal couple’s engagement photographs has spoken out about the “joyful” experience.

Alexi Lubomirski is a British-born fashion and celebrity photographer who currently lives in New York with his wife Giada and their two sons.

He worked as an assistant under the mentorship of Mario Testino for four years during the early stages of his career, having made the famed photographer’s acquaintance while distributing his university portfolio in London.

He’s since worked for publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and GQ, and has shot a number of international stars including Beyoncé, Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts.

When Mr Lubomirski was asked to photograph Ms Markle and Prince Harry following the announcement of their engagement on November 27, the request took him completely by surprise.

“It was nutty. It was a very surreal end to the year because it came out of nowhere,” Mr Lubomirski told E! News while at the Daily Front Row Fashion Awards on Sunday evening.

“I think one of Meghan’s friends saw me on Instagram, that I was in England during the announcement of the engagement, and I was told later that this person said to her, ‘You should meet Alexi. He’s great. You’d love him,’ and that was it.”

Despite the pressure of photographing one of the most famous couples in the world, Mr Lubomirski recollected the photo shoot as being completely devoid of any stress.

“It was one of the easiest, most joyful jobs because they were so deliciously in love,” he said.

“When I went to meet them we were all talking about what I sort of saw as the pictures, and as they were talking to us they would keep glancing at each other, and when they glanced at each other they would smile and giggle, and I was like, ‘This is it! This is what I want to do.

‘Just be yourselves, with each other, and I’ll just take pictures of you, and I’ll just fade into the background, and we’ll walk around Windsor Castle and take pictures.’”

This was Mr Lubomirski’s first experience of photographing a wedding engagement, which made the whole sequence of events that much more special.

From the very beginning of the discussions about the photo shoot, all parties involved agreed that their main aim was to make the photographs as natural as possible.

Mr Lubomirski wanted to “show them, as they are together”, he explained.

He described the close-up photograph of Ms Markle caressing Prince Harry’s face as “magic”.

Mr Lubomirski revealed that he and his wife have been asked to attend the wedding, although the question of who has been hired as the official wedding photographer remains unanswered.