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I was a bit nervous about meeting Annie Leibovitz today - because my preparation suggested that she checks out her interviewers rather rigorously before she agrees to speak.

I had been asked to send a CV, but in the to-ing and fro-ing of emails, I had accidentally on purpose failed to send one. But maybe she had done her homework anyway - checked out this blog, watched some of my reports... who knows?

But I was also aware that very often, with big name interviewees, it's the PR people who are the really jumpy ones. The subject is usually relaxed and happy to chat away.

And that's exactly how it turned out with my "new best friend", Annie!

It is extraordinary how much of a celebrity this celebrity photographer is. ´óÏó´«Ã½ News had secured one of only two broadcast interviews with her and, after we had finished, there was a highly unusual scrum of photographers, news crews and journalists trying to grab a word as she walked around her retrospective exhibtion at the . Everyone wanted a piece of her.

We got half an hour to speak, during which time she talked happily about Her Majesty the Queen, and the portraits she took of her; one of which takes on such a painterly look that the likes of Gainsborough or Reynolds would have been envious.

But, of course, the scene of that photo shoot became the centre of a huge controversy at the ´óÏó´«Ã½, and resulted in the corporation having to apologise to the Queen. A trailer for the programme appeared to show the monarch walking out of the photo shoot looking cross when, in fact, she was walking into the photo shoot.

Not our finest hour.

It turns out that Leibovitz didn't even want camera crews present at the photo shoot. She has asked press officers if it could be avoided and was told 'no'. She even asked the Queen herself if she minded, and it seems the Queen dismissed the whole thing - saying she didn't even notice the camera crews any more.

Leibovitz told me she thought the episode was "heartbreaking". Had the truth of that day been highlighted at the outset, then the Queen would have been shown to be frustrated and that was interesting in itself.

For anyone who hasn't seen the documentary, you can watch the relevant clip on YouTube, and see that Liebovtiz is absolutely right. What actually happened is in itself a revealing portrait.