Meghan Markle left the royals behind back in 2020, but one former photographer said the duchess was actually ‘fantastic’ to work with during her first yeawr dating Prince Harry.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s time in the royal family didn’t quite go as expected. It didn’t take long for the two to realize that the life they wanted was not attainable as long as they were behind palace walls, and a little less than two years after marrying, Harry and Meghan officially left their working royal roles.

But one longtime royal photographer says that Meghan wasn’t always the way she seems; actually, she was “fabulous” at first — until everything changed.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018 | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Meghan Markle was ‘fantastic’ at first, photographer says

When Meghan and Harry first began dating, she appeared to acclimate well to royal life. Meghan was somewhat used to being in the spotlight, having been an actress in the United States. Although she reached far greater levels of fame as a royal, she was not a stranger to handling the public.

However, over time, things shifted in Meghan’s attitude — at least, according to one photographer who worked closely with the royal family. “The first year with Meghan she was fantastic,” photographer Arthur Edwards told the Sun. “I travelled everywhere with them … She was a star, engaging with the public, doing everything you’d expect a lady married into the royal family to do.”

But Edwards said that “suddenly, everything changed.” And once it did, Edwards said that Harry and Meghan’s “impetuous” attitude led them to immediately decide to leave the family. “Meghan said ‘we are going’ and that was it … And as we say, he made that decision and disappeared. That was his choice.”

Although Edwards didn’t necessarily mind the couple’s decision — he said it was “fair enough” that the two made their own choice — he didn’t like the way they were so “nasty” about the royal family, which he claimed was only so they could make money.