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Royal BBC documentary banned by Queen is leaked on YouTube after being hidden for 50 years
A ROYAL TV documentary banned by the Queen nearly 50 years ago was leaked in full yesterday — to the embarrassment of Buckingham Palace.
The BBC’s cringeworthy “Royal Family” film was locked away in 1972 on Her Majesty’s orders and had never been seen in its entirety.
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The fly-on-the-wall doc contains awkward footage which was later dramatised by Netflix’s The Crown.
But tens of thousands saw the 89-minute film on YouTube yesterday before it was deleted after complaints from the BBC and the Palace.
Prince Philip had invited BBC cameras into their home in a bid to prove how normal they were.
But they instead appeared woefully out of touch, with viewers unimpressed by their extravagant lifestyle during an economically tough time.
It was only shown once, in 1969, and Her Majesty was said to have been embarrassed by the public reaction.
Early on, a bagpiper plays a tune outside Buckingham Palace, a daily tradition that would greet the Queen when she woke up.
In another scene, Philip demands he fly between two appointments despite being told it is a three-hour drive.
Intimate conversations involving the usually guarded monarch also feature.
During a family meal, Her Majesty reveals she blows her nose if she is about to laugh inappropriately.
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She also jokes that US Ambassador Walter Annenberg looked like a gorilla.
She says: “It’s extremely difficult to keep a straight face when the Home Secretary said to me, ‘There’s a gorilla coming in.’ So I said, ‘What an extraordinary remark to make about someone — very unkind.’
"I stood in the middle of the room and pressed the bell and the doors opened and there was a gorilla. He had a short body and long arms.”
With the crew spending 12 months with the royals, Philip’s famous tactlessness unsurprisingly surfaces.
He jokes to one member of the public visiting Buckingham Palace: “What’s on your tie? Alcoholics anonymous?”
But one comment seemed to go down badly with US President Richard Nixon, who turns and walks away.
Two years before the broadcast, the pound was devalued by PM Harold Wilson amid a mountain of debt.
But the royals were clearly unaffected. At one point, the Queen appears at The Royal Opera House with her sister Princess Margaret before setting off on The Royal Train.
Describing it, narrator Michael Flanders says: “Ten coaches, three working rooms, three dining rooms, five bathrooms, three kitchens as well as Prince Philip’s room and The Queen’s room.”
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Another scene sees the Queen discussing her outfits with her dresser. She asks: “Did I wear that one?” Of a tiara, she says: “That you can wear with a silver bouquet. Can we remember that?”
The narrator also reveals the extent to which lowly staff must go to keep their bosses happy.
He says: “On royal yachts, the ship’s company on the decks above have always worn soft shoes and given orders by hand signals to preserve the peace and quiet below.”
At home, the Queen’s lunch is delivered along “200 yards of corridors and up in a lift”.
Cringeworthy family gatherings are shown, with the Queen, Philip, Princess Anne and Prince Charles acting awkwardly for the cameras.
The Queen is regularly seen with her corgis. She is also shown taking her four-year-old son Prince Edward to a grocery store. She buys him an ice cream and expresses concern about the mess it will make in the car.
He is also seen at nursery while brother Andrew plays football at boarding school.
Meanwhile, Charles jet-skis topless, fishes and drinks with Cambridge University pals and cycles in the city.
Another scene sees him and Anne in a naval exercise, hoisting themselves on ropes from ship to ship.
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More than 30million people watched it at the time. Anne is said to have commented: “I never liked the idea of Royal Family. I thought it was a rotten idea.”
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It was later mercilessly dramatised in series three of The Crown, with Olivia Colman as the Queen.
Yesterday, BBC and Palace aides moved swiftly to have it deleted. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
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