Her Royal Heilness

[Syt]

Oh, Sun.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33578174?ocid=socialflow_facebook

Queen Nazi salute film: Palace 'disappointed' at use

Buckingham Palace has said it is disappointed that footage from 1933 showing the Queen performing a Nazi salute has been released.

The Sun has published the film which shows the Queen aged about seven, with her mother, sister and uncle.

The palace said it was "disappointing that film, shot eight decades ago... has been obtained and exploited".

The newspaper has refused to say how it got the footage but said it was an "important and interesting story".

'Misleading and dishonest'

The black and white footage, which lasts about 17 seconds, shows the Queen playing with a dog on the lawn in the gardens of Balmoral, the Sun says.

The Queen Mother then raises her arm in the style of a Nazi salute and, after glancing towards her mother, the Queen mimics the gesture. Prince Edward, the future Edward VIII, is also seen raising his arm.

The footage is thought to have been shot in 1933 or 1934, when Hitler was rising to prominence as Fuhrer in Germany but the circumstances in which it was shot are unclear.

A Palace source said: "Most people will see these pictures in their proper context and time. This is a family playing and momentarily referencing a gesture many would have seen from contemporary news reels.

"No one at that time had any sense how it would evolve. To imply anything else is misleading and dishonest."

'Fascinating insight'

The source added: "The Queen and her family's service and dedication to the welfare of this nation during the war, and the 63 years the Queen has spent building relations between nations and peoples speaks for itself."

BBC Royal correspondent Sarah Campbell said Buckingham Palace was not denying the footage was authentic but that there were "questions over how this video has been released".

Who was the man in the video?

- Edward was uncle of the young princess Elizabeth and brother of George VI
- He briefly became King himself in 1936 but abdicated just 326 days later because of his plans to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson - a marriage government and church figures deemed unacceptable
- Replaced by George VI, Edward was one of the shortest reigning monarchs in British history
- In October 1937, Edward and his wife - by now the Duke and Duchess of Windsor - visited Nazi Germany
- During the controversial visit they met Hitler, dined with his deputy, Rudolf Hess, and went to a concentration camp
- He moved to France with the Duchess after the war and died there in 1972

Dickie Arbiter , a former Buckingham Palace press secretary, said the Palace would be investigating.

"They'll be wondering whether it was in fact something that was held in the Royal Archives at Windsor, or whether it was being held by the Duke of Windsor's estate," he said.

"And if it was the Duke of Windsor's estate, then somebody has clearly taken it from the estate and here it is, 82 years later.

"But a lot of questions have got to be asked and a lot of questions got to be answered."

Sun managing editor Stig Abell said he did not accept Buckingham Palace's accusation that the footage has been "exploited".

He said the newspaper had decided to publish the story because it was of great public importance and the involvement of Prince Edward gave it "historical significance".

The then Prince of Wales faced numerous accusations of being a Nazi sympathiser and was photographed meeting Hitler in Munich in October 1937.

Sun article with video: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6548665/Their-Royal-b-classredHeilbnesses.html?CMP=spklr-_-S9SunSocial-_-TWITTER-_-TheSunNewspaper-_-20150717-_-Royals-_-209827137



Talk about a stormtrooper in a tea cup? 

[Josquius]

Front page

[The Brain]

You can't take Germany out of the German.

[jimmy olsen]

  That's pretty despicable!

[Eddie Teach]

Isn't that how people said the Pledge of Allegiance back then?

[Martinus]

I'm surprised the pretend reason for Edward VIII's abdication is still mentioned by BBC. I thought it was a general consensus he was forced to abdicate because of his nazi sympathies?

[Martinus]

Isn't that how people said the Pledge of Allegiance back then?

I think it is fairly clear they are mimicking Hitler though.

[Martinus]

I hate to be on the side of Sun here - and clearly, the Queen being 7 yo at the time is completely blameless in this - but this statement is patently false:

No one at that time had any sense how it would evolve. To imply anything else is misleading and dishonest."

You could say that for an average Briton at the time, but adult members of royal family should have more sense or knowledge of current affairs to know better.

[The Brain]

I'm surprised the pretend reason for Edward VIII's abdication is still mentioned by BBC. I thought it was a general consensus he was forced to abdicate because of his nazi sympathies?

Why must you try to tear down every straight figure in history?

[Neil]

I'm surprised the pretend reason for Edward VIII's abdication is still mentioned by BBC. I thought it was a general consensus he was forced to abdicate because of his nazi sympathies?

Revisionist nonsense.

[Razgovory]

I'm surprised the pretend reason for Edward VIII's abdication is still mentioned by BBC. I thought it was a general consensus he was forced to abdicate because of his nazi sympathies?

No, that is not the general consensus.  Baldwin was pretty upfront with the King about this, there is no reason to think he was lying.

[Phillip V]

I like Lizzy's version; her dancing a jig after rendering salute.

[Josephus]

I like how they had to illustrate what the Nazi salute looked like by showing a comparative image of Hitler on the front page for those intellectual Sun readers.

The Guardian wouldn't need to do that.

[Ed Anger]

Please, my kids were doing that at age 2.

Liz= Slow

[crazy canuck]

I like how they had to illustrate what the Nazi salute looked like by showing a comparative image of Hitler on the front page for those intellectual Sun readers.

The Guardian wouldn't need to do that.

Lol

Should have had the demonstration on page 3