reSee.it Video Transcript AI Summary
Charlie Daggett reports from outside Buckingham Palace that The Sun newspaper obtained a seventy-second black-and-white video showing Queen Elizabeth as a child, apparently performing a Nazi salute. The video also shows her mother and younger sister dancing around, with her uncle, the future King Edward VIII, performing the same gesture. Palace officials have confirmed an internal investigation to determine the source of the leak, where the family footage came from, and how it ended up with The Sun.
Roya Nica, a royal correspondent, notes the palace is scrambling to figure out how the film got out and emphasizes it’s unclear how the material entered circulation. There has been a huge level of concern about how the material got out, with unknowns about the leak rattling both royal aides and members of the royal family.
Part of the clip had already been made public, showing the queen and her sister shortly after the incident as part of an exhibition by Buckingham Palace last year, which has led to claims the palace may be partly to blame for inadvertently releasing the footage to documentary makers. The Sun won’t say where they acquired it, but says it was obtained in a legitimate fashion and published with the public interest in mind, says managing editor Stig Abel.
The Sun frames the historical interest as a matter of cultural and general significance, stating that in 1933, led by a man who would become Edward VIII, the British royal family were doing Nazi salutes on video. Edward VIII’s early support for the Nazis is noted, including his 1937 visit to Hitler after abdication to marry Wallis Simpson. The queen was about six years old when the film was shot at Balmoral, unaware of what the Nazi salute would symbolize.
Officials suggest the footage’s release is unlikely to affect the public image of the queen or the monarchy. One analyst says it is sensational but does not likely change how the public views the monarchy. The royal archives themselves are not open to the public; researchers may access them with palace approval. Some historians advocate opening up the archives to reveal more. Nora questions whether the palace will get to the bottom of the matter, while Charlie Daggett concludes that something tells him they will.