Why an Irish man got a prize for shooting the Queen

An Irish snapper has bagged the top prise for Irish photography for a picture he took of the Queen during her visit to Ireland last May.

The photograph showed the normally steely 86-year-old monarch, was shot by Chris Bellew looking meek. The out of character picture of the Queen won the Irish Professional Photographers Association Press and PR Photographer of the Year.

The picture was taken just before the longest reigning British monarch laid a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance in honours of all those who died fighting for Irish independence. The ceremony was one of the highlights of the State visit, the first by a sitting monarch.

Chris Bellew spotted the Queen peeping tentatively around a door and snapped up the chance. The 30-year-old Dublin-based photographer told the Irish Independent that she looked directly at him when he was taking the picture.

There are plans for last year's State visit to be repaid by Michael D Higgins going out to Buckingham Palace. The new main man in the Áras has already been for a quick trip to London. last week he visited Olympic sites, Irish emigrants and business leaders on a whistle-stop tour.