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Thousands of candid royals photos to go up for auction

He's the photographer the British royalty loved to hate. Since the early 1950s, Ray Bellisario has captured candid moments rarely seen by the public of Queen Elizabeth and members of her family “to show royalty as ordinary folk,” he said in a TODAY segment that aired Thursday.Among his photographs are those of a young Prince Charles in a wet suit, and another of him in swim trunks waterskiing
Prince Charles waterskiing on a chair in Sunninghill Park in 1970.
Prince Charles waterskiing on a chair in Sunninghill Park in 1970.Today

He's the photographer the British royalty loved to hate.

Since the early 1950s, Ray Bellisario has captured candid moments rarely seen by the public of Queen Elizabeth and members of her family “to show royalty as ordinary folk,” he said in a TODAY segment that aired Thursday.

Charles cycles to a lecture in 1969.
Charles cycles to a lecture in 1969.Today

Among his photographs are those of a young Prince Charles in a wet suit, and another of him in swim trunks waterskiing on a chair.

Other pictures show the royalty in casual poses, smoking, resting and dancing. He also has pictures of children frolicking on palace grounds.

Anne takes a tumble from her horse 'Purple Star' in 1970.
Anne takes a tumble from her horse 'Purple Star' in 1970.Today

While the public devoured the images, the royals detested being caught in common, and sometimes unflattering, awkward moments, such as when he captured Princess Anne falling off her horse.

“She said, ‘That’s never going to happen, you'll never get that!’” Bellisario recounted.

Andrew puts his foot in horse manure at a polo match in Smith's Lawn in 1968.
Andrew puts his foot in horse manure at a polo match in Smith's Lawn in 1968.Today

He got the moment after spending years attending Anne’s equestrian events, just waiting for such a moment to happen.

Anne on holiday in Malta in 1969.
Anne on holiday in Malta in 1969.Today

Bellisario said he was troubled that his work infuriated the royals, who felt he crossed the line of their privacy.

“And yet I felt that I was beckoned to that line,” he admitted.

For instance, he once captured Queen Elizabeth meeting with her estranged uncle, the Duke of Windsor, who years earlier abdicated the throne to her father.

Queen walks the grounds of Buckingham Palace with the Duke of Windsor in 1965.
Queen walks the grounds of Buckingham Palace with the Duke of Windsor in 1965.Today

The palace denied such a meeting took place, yet Bellisario watched it unfold from a 19th floor room he rented in a hotel room three blocks away from the palace gardens.

Photos like those prompted the royals to view him as a nuisance, a terror, and probably worse.

“I think they had other names for me actually,” he joked.

Photographer Ray Bellisario.
Photographer Ray Bellisario.Today

“It was a love-hate relationship, I think.”

Bellisario will soon auction off thousands of his images for charity this fall. The photos are estimated to raise nearly $1 million.