Kate’s favourite hobby is "less than satisfying" for King Charles, who believes it's "impossible" to achieve his desired result.
The Princess of Wales is known for having plenty of hobbies - most of them sporting related - that she fits in alongside her royal duties. From Kate’s divisive hobby of cold water swimming she does in the dark to her love of tennis, the senior royal loves to keep active and has shown her skillset on many occasions at engagements too. However, Kate’s favourite hobby is arguably photography and she’s regularly behind the camera capturing special snaps released to mark her children’s birthdays.
The Princess of Wales also took the cover photo of Queen Camilla for her guest-edited issue of Country Life in 2022 and won Cover of the Year at the PPA Awards. But whilst she loves taking pictures, it seems her father-in-law King Charles isn’t a fan of photography at all - to the point that he once called it "less than satisfying".
According to the Prince’s Foundation, when a selection of His Majesty’s watercolour artwork went on display in January 2022, King Charles candidly revealed his opinion of photography in a panel display.
"I took up painting entirely because I found photography less than satisfying," the monarch shared. "Quite simply, I experienced an overwhelming urge to express what I saw through the medium of watercolour and to convey that almost ‘inner’ sense of texture which is impossible to achieve via photography."
Instead of pursuing photography as a hobby, King Charles instead turned to painting to create the final result he’d been eager to "express".
He continued, "I very quickly discovered how incredibly difficult it is to paint well in such a spontaneous medium, and the feeling of frustration at not being able to achieve on paper the image that your eye has presented you with is intense!"
Despite his apparent "frustration" with painting, his words do suggest that he found it more satisfying than photography. In contrast, his daughter-in-law is a keen amateur photographer whose talents have been praised by professionals in the field too. Speaking to Hello! in 2021 after photographing Kate at Anmer Hall a year earlier, Matt Porteous described her as having an "amazing eye" for photos.
"Catherine is an amazing photographer, we have both shared tips on location and talked about light, settings and styles," he explained. "Catherine has an amazing eye for photos so will always point us in the right direction for light and backdrops. I'm always looking for the best light and will work with this in every scene."
Even after becoming Princess of Wales and taking on more responsibilities, Kate has continued to personally take heartfelt photos for family occasions, like Prince George, Charlotte and Louis’s birthdays.
Earlier this year she took one of the most unique royal group photos in honour of Prince William’s birthday when she captured an action-shot of him and the kids beaming as they jumped into the air above picturesque sand dunes. Although King Charles finds it “impossible” to achieve the result he particularly loves with photographs, Kate clearly loves this particular artform.
With so many sweet family snaps taken by her, His Majesty might have some of his beloved daughter-in-law’s pictures on display at home, whilst he sticks to creating watercolour drawings.
