FAREWELL TO FREDDIE, QUEEN MUM'S FAVOURITE PHOTOGRAPHER ROYAL; Tribute to Mirror's giant of the lens.
HE remained a newspaper man to the last. In a moving last letter to his family he wrote: "This is my final deadline, my very last issue."Freddie Reed, former Mirror photographer and favourite of the Queen Mother, had written his own epitaph.
Freddie, who died aged 84, was known for his dedication and love of the job. And at the thanksgiving service, to pay tribute to his life and talent, those who knew him smiled at his fitting choice of words.
His family, friends and colleagues from the newspaper industry packed St Peter and St Paul's church, Shoreham, Kent, this week to celebrate one of the giants of Fleet Street.
For 51 years Freddie roamed the world for The Mirror covering Royal events, wars, disasters and drama.
One of Fleet Street's greatest photographers, he won awards, accolades and, in 1978, the MBE, but he will always be remembered for his impeccable dress, his courtesy and his charm.
Freddie was a "gentleman", no doubt one of the many qualities which endeared him to the Royal Family.
Shortly after his death on Valentine's Day, the Queen Mother sent a private letter of condolence to his widow Katie and sons Michael and David. The Queen sent a telegram.
Freddie started at The Mirror, aged 14 as a teaboy and messenger. Then horse-drawn carts delivered the rolls of paper to Fleet Street and the press still wore trilbys.
He was paid pounds 1 a week - but he had to work for it. He started at eight in the morning, finished at 5pm and then went to evening classes to learn his beloved photography. But he was mainly self-taught.
From those humble beginnings he went on to become one of the country's most famous newspaper photographers.
His close relationship with the Royals began in 1931. He never forgot that first picture with the Queen Mother - and neither did she.
She was Duchess of York then and visiting a London exhibition with her husband, the future King George VI.
"In those days we used flash powder for illumination and she was worried I might be burnt. She said, 'Be careful, we will wait'," recalled Freddie some years later.
He went on clicking the Queen Mum until he retired in 1979 after 51 illustrious years on The Mirror and over the years developed a special relationship with her. Today's Mirror Royal photographer, Kent Gavin, remembers how Freddie was invited to join her for tea every year on her birthday.
"It became a joke," recalls Kent. "We were all outside Clarence House and Freddie swanned past with a card or a gift and just said 'Morning'. He was having tea with her while we were all outside."
When he retired after 64 royal tours and two coronations Freddie was given a surprise send-off. He went to photograph the Queen Mother, thinking it was just another job. But when he arrived at Clarence House he was whisked in to meet her.
"Hello, Mr Reed. I hear you are leaving us," she said. "You've travelled so many miles with us. We will miss you. You have helped us a great deal."
THE ever-gallant Freddie replied: "Oh no, Your Majesty. YOU have always helped us."
Then she posed so he could take a photograph for his own collection.
But he also had stories to tell of other Royal occasions. Former Mirror editor Mike Malloy recalled how Freddie had so many memories that his leaving speech was the longest in newspaper history.
"At the end of an hour and a half, he told us: 'And that takes us up to 1939'. We all groaned. But he was truly a giant of Fleet Street."
Freddie wasn't only a royal photographer. During his wide-ranging career her captured the foibles and fortunes of the famous including the young Cliff Richard and an up-and-coming Liverpool band called the Beatles.
One of his most poignant pictures was of the Aberfan disaster in 1966. He recalled: "I had intruded on their tragedy, but this was my job."
And once again his picture told the story in the way no words can.
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| Author: | Grant, Clare |
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| Publication: | The Mirror (London, England) |
| Date: | Feb 26, 1999 |
| Words: | 684 |
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