Frank Attard, legendary Times of Malta photographer, dies aged 97

Frank Attard, the man behind some of the most iconic photos of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, has died aged 97.

Attard spent decades at Times of Malta, joining as a paperboy in 1942 when he was 14 years old and retiring in 1998 as one of the most important and consequential photographers in the country’s history. 

A young Attard, camera in hand.

He was a recipient of the Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika and a winner of the Maltese Journalists’ Gold Award.  

Attard began his career at the height of the Second World War, walking from Ħamrun to Valletta at 5am every day, from where he would haul newspaper rolls of The Times and Il-Berqa in a handcart to Floriana.

Once there, he would hand over the rolls to bus drivers of different localities who would, in turn, distribute them to the agents at the end of the journey.

He was as comfortable with royalty as he was with the most ordinary people

Five years later, he was at a football match at the Gżira stadium and there was no photographer to cover it.

“No one taught me how to take pictures, I was just told to shoot some pictures, and that’s what I did,” he reminisced.

And that is how the camera became an extension of his arm for decades, with his name eventually becoming synonymous with photos of the Queen.

Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth inside Villa Guardamangia. Photo Frank Attard

His most famous one, dating back to 1949, captured Prince Philip and the then-Princess Elizabeth at Villa Guardamangia.

Posing for Attard, then aged just 21, Philip is seen extending two fingers as he rests his hand on the bench. Many read that gesture as the prince signalling the princess’s second pregnancy. 

Throughout the years, he took hundreds of photos of the late British queen. The last time he met her was in 2015, her last visit to Malta.

Frank Attard meeting the Queen in 2015, alongside then President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca. Source: Getty Images

In one of his last interviews with Times of Malta in 2022, he said one of his favourite photos of Queen Elizabeth was of her holding on to her hat and members of the Maltese clergy holding down their long garments.

“It was a very windy day and you can see how the queen is holding her hat down so it doesn’t blow away with the wind,” he had said, laughing with an infectious smile.

Doctors striking in the 1970s. Photo Frank Attard

Attard was the Institute of Maltese Journalists’ Gold Award winner in 2000 (back then, the Malta Press Club), with his nominations backed by Buckingham Palace.

He retired in 1998 as Malta’s longest serving photographer after 55 years with Allied Newspapers.

That same year, he was presented with the Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika in 1998, and in 2006, he was awarded the Elderly of the Year prize by the Birżebbuġa local council. 

‘Times of Malta lost a defining chapter of its history’

Times of Malta editor-in-chief Herman Grech recalls sitting in Attard’s dusty Skoda in 1997 on the way to a coverage, listening to his stories.

Muammar Gaddafi and Dom Mintoff. Photo: Frank Attard

“I was in awe – everyone knew Frank was an institution. He was months away from retirement, and it was immediately clear I was speaking to someone who had witnessed history unfold through his lens.

“What was remarkable about him was the way he captured Malta throughout the 20th century with humility, never putting himself in the spotlight.”

Beyond his work, Grech will always remember Attard’s kindness, including the occasional phone call of support during trying political times.

“Frank never stopped caring about this newsroom or its people. Today, it truly feels like Times of Malta has lost a defining chapter of its history.”

Frank Attard looks skyward in 2010.

‘An icon and father figure’

For former Times of Malta editor Ray Bugeja, who first joined the newspaper as a young reporter in 1980, Attard recounted episodes in Malta’s history through his photos better than any top narrator could.

“He breathed life and colour in his still, monochrome images. He was an icon and his presence was overwhelming.”

Bugeja found in Attard a father figure who took the trouble to take him through the paces and gave him tips that served him very well throughout his career.

Bugeja recalled how, together with Attard, he was assigned to cover a General Workers’ Union meeting at the then Malta Drydocks.

“We were met by a hostile crowd, and I feared for our safety, especially Frank’s, as he had to stand on the speakers’ platform in full view of everyone.

“I was speechless when I saw him moving right up to the front of the stage and shooting photographs. I soon realised that, bar a handful of hotheads, the workers present respected him and, indeed, applauded him as one of the speakers told those present he was there to do his job, a worker like them.”

‘As comfortable with royalty as with the most ordinary people’

Times of Malta deputy online editor Chris Scicluna described Attard as a mentor to a whole generation of photographers and reporters, with his timely advice on how to take pictures and ask questions.

Mabel Strickland, founder of Allied Newspapers. Photo: Frank Attard

“He will be remembered most for his quick reflexes with his old Rolleiflex camera whenever an opportunity presented itself – like the time when he was driving up to Castille when a blood-drenched man was taken out of the building after a reported shooting, or when he spotted a stowaway car going up a mooring rope to a ship.

“Of course, he will be remembered most for his 1969 picture of the Angel Gabriel tanker, which ran aground and broke in half off Marsascala. He was not even working that day.”

An iconic 1969 shot of survivors of the Angel Gabriel, a tanker that ran aground off Marsascala. Photo: Frank Attard

Despite his towering and stern appearance, Scicluna says Attard was actually very calm and had a huge sense of humour.

“We especially enjoyed his impersonations of any member of the staff during our fenkatas in Mġarr.

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“He was as comfortable with royalty – and he was familiar with the Royal Family – as with the most ordinary people. I fondly remember him, during one of my earliest coverages on a New Year’s Day, playing like a boy with patients at Mount Carmel Hospital.

“On another occasion, Labour supporters pulled his camera away during a protest over the building of the power station in Delimara and warned him to move off. He complained to (then prime minister) Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, and the camera was promptly returned.” 

‘A legend’ 

Photographer Darrin Zammit Lupi described Attard as a “legend” who taught him much of what he knew.

“When I first started out as a press photographer, the new kid on the block, he was the first of the veterans to welcome me into the media pack and make me feel at ease among colleagues who were also competitors,” he recalled. 

“Frank shaped more of us than he ever realised. His generosity, his eye, his quiet guidance — they stay with me, and with everyone who had the privilege of working alongside him. We’ve lost a giant, but his influence will echo for a long time,” Zammit Lupi said. 

‘Everyone respected him’

Joanne Cocks, who joined Times of Malta as a young reporter in 1990, recalls how her very first assignment was with Attard at the German Embassy.

“I was scared, excited and overwhelmed. He calmly introduced me to everyone and immediately made me feel at ease. As young journalists, we learnt so much from him.

“He knew everybody and everyone knew and respected him – from politicians and members of the diplomatic corps to colleagues at competing media houses.”