Royal photographer reveals he took a secret picture of the royals on telling occasion

Photographer Arthur Edwards, who followed the Royal Family for decades, has revealed that he took a picture of Sarah Ferguson on the day that she divorced Prince Andrew. Despite announcing their separation in 1992, the Duchess of York officially divorced the late Queen's second-born son in 1996.

Speaking of Sarah in an article for The Sun, Arthur recalls how the now-65-year-old had taken Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie to a show-jumping competition at Hickstead, West Sussex. According to Arthur, Sarah told him: "You were there at the beginning - you should be here at the end." The picture, taken in West Sussex, shows Sarah, then aged 36, sat on the grass with both of her daughters - who were then aged 7 and 6.

Just one year after the Yorks' divorce, Arthur was also made aware that Sarah was staying at a private villa with Beatrice and Eugenie in Italy. He wrote: "The world's press were camped outside but I got a message saying: 'She'll be at this beach. Don't tell anyone - just go there'."

Speaking of a secret picture that he took of the family, he wrote: "I arrived at a little hut and got wonderful pictures of her and the girls preparing a picnic and running on the beach together."

As well as revealing his closeness to Sarah professionally, Arthur also shared that Sarah reached out to him following the death of the late Princess Diana in August 1997.

He wrote: "And when her friend Princess Diana died in that horrific crash in August 1997, I was at the airport in Paris when my phone rang. It was Fergie, who had been very close to Diana, asking if I was alright."

Despite their divorce, Sarah and Andrew have remained good friends - and with the former couple often spotted in Windsor.

The former couple both still remain at Andrew's Royal Lodge in Windsor. Despie their unusual living arrangements, Sarah has previously referred to them as "the happiest divorced couple in the world".

Writing in his recent article, Arthur Edwards said: "Sarah and Andrew are still very close and will be until the day they die."