Society photographer Lord Lichfield has died at the age of 66, it was announced this morning. Lichfield, who suffered a major stroke yesterday and was immediately admitted to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, died at 4am.
The Queen, Lichfield's first cousin, is "deeply saddened", a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said.
Patrick Lichfield's striking, theatrical portraits made him one of the country's best-known photographers, indelibly associated with iconic images from the 1960s, when stars such as Joanna Lumley, Jane Birkin and Mick Jagger stepped in front of his camera. In later years his output became dominated by group portraits of his own relatives, the Royals - most famously for the marriage of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.
Lichfield's career as a society snapper began early, when he took pictures of his cousin the Queen at a cricket match against Eton - photographs promptly confiscated by an officious monitor. He continued taking photos for more than 40 years, being awarded fellowships by both the British Institute of Professional Photographers and the Royal Photographic Society, and was still active last month, when he was commissioned to record Baroness Thatcher's 80th birthday.
Born Thomas Patrick John Anson on 25 April 1939, he was the son of Viscount Anson and Princess Anne of Denmark, the Queen Mother's niece. Although he inherited the title 5th Earl of Lichfield from his paternal grandfather, he dropped it for professional work.
Harrow-educated, Lichfield trained at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and spent seven years in the Grenadier Guards, before leaving to become an assistant in a commercial London studio. After setting out on his own in the early 1960s, he shot pictures for Life magazine and various national dailies, before winning a five-year contract with American Vogue.
As an exhibition two years ago at the National Portrait Gallery chronicled, he had the savvy to develop an iconic style at an iconic time, honing the images of a generation of celebrities. His group portrait Swinging London, featuring Roman Polanski, David Hockney and Lady Antonia Fraser, did much to define the era and became one of his best-known photographs.
He also famously shot singer Marsha Hunt in the nude, earning massive publicity for the musical Hair. Photographer and model were recently reunited for a retake, with Hunt, in her late 50s, having had a mastectomy after suffering from breast cancer.
Lichfield once said: "My career meant I was surrounded by better-than-average-looking women and many became my girlfriends - but it was just as exciting for me as a photographer to be able to make a lasting image of them."
In 1975, he married Lady Leonora Grosvenor, but they later divorced after rumours of an affair with a model. They had one son, Tom, and two daughters, Rose and Eloise.
He is survived by his children and his long-term partner, Lady Annunziata Asquith.