Posthumous auction of teenager's photos raises cash

Pictures taken by a teenage photographer who died from cancer have been auctioned in aid of charity.

The sale of photographs by Liz Hatton took place at Morphets Auctioneers in her home town of Harrogate on Saturday, raising almost £900 to help fund research into desmoplastic small round cell tumour.

The photographs were taken in the last 10 weeks of Liz's life before she died of the disease on 27 November.

Her mother Vicky Robayna said there was never a moment in her daughter's last 10 weeks when she was not "running around taking photos".

She told BBC Radio York: "Right at the very end, she was still taking photos four days before she died – at the Royal Variety Performance.

"I had said to her that morning 'Liz you look really tired shall we go home' and she looked at me like I was an absolute idiot and said 'Mum, do you realise how few people get to do this, do you realise how important it is' and she was so determined."

Liz became well known after she was invited to photograph an investiture by the Prince and Princess of Wales in September 2024.

The images were published on the royal couple's Instagram page and Liz was also pictured being hugged by Kate at Windsor Castle.

Ms Robayna said the couple had been kind to Liz during her last weeks and the opportunity led to many more – including with celebrity photographers Rankin, Gareth Cattermole and Richard Heathcote.

She said: "She was incredibly lucky because we met so many kind people, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the world got to know about her so she got so many amazing photography opportunities.

"She took all of these incredible photographs of people like Michael McIntyre, of Six The Musical, of The Royal Ballet, and she had a phenomenal time in her last 10 weeks."

The auction included photographs of The Royal Ballet, London Air Ambulance, Michael McIntyre, Drag Race star Vanity Milan and Prince William awarding cyclist Sir Mark Cavendish his knighthood.

Ms Robayna said the money raised would go to the family's charity set up to raise awareness and fund research into desmoplastic small round cell tumour.

She said: "It's a really rare cancer, and because it's so rare there's very little research for it or funding given over to it. We will be the only charity in the world that we're aware of that not only funds research but also supports parents.

"When Liz was diagnosed it was like looking for a needle in a haystack trying to find any information and we hope this will change that.

"We're trying to reach our goal of £100,000, which will fund our first piece of research which will help pull what information there is around the world... into one useable document for patients and oncologists."

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