A Banned Royal Documentary Has Finally Been Leaked To The Public

The idea of a documentary about the British royal family may not seem very provocative in today’s uber-connected world. And certainly not in an era where we have films such as The Princess and TV series such as The Crown. But in the 1960s, the royals weren’t the smiling people we see every day on Instagram. In fact, the royals weren’t seen much at all.

Back then, the British monarchy was seen almost exclusively at official royal engagements and tours. No one really knew what the inside of Buckingham palace looked like, or what the Queen ate for breakfast, or what Prince Charles and his siblings did for fun. There was a strict line between the Queen's public and private lives and no one dared cross it. Until that is, the Queen commissioned this documentary.

The inspiration for the film came about because Charles was finally going to get the ceremony that officially acknowledged him as the Prince of Wales. It was seemingly a way to celebrate the occasion... even though the event was broadcast live to the nation in 1969. And while it was in some ways in keeping with royal tradition, the documentary actually marked a significant step for the monarchy.

You might know that King George V — who reigned from 1910 to 1936 — also used a form of entertainment to remain in the public consciousness. It's actually believed that his broadcasts over the radio allowed him to remain a popular ruler during and after the First World War. And the royals' only continued to use the media to promote their official duties — but what Elizabeth did was significantly different.

The departure from tradition that Elizabeth invited with Royal Family was that the documentary didn't just cover official business. It showed the royals doing, well, everything and anything. In fact, the film crew who captured all the footage spent an entire year with the royal family. And during that time, they recorded over 43 hours worth of footage.

This meant, of course, that we got to see the royal family in their natural habitat, away from the prying eyes of the public. They worked, they socialized, and they tried to act naturally for the cameras. The documentary featured the most famous of famous people watching the TV, eating a picnic, and taking a boat out on a lake. But not everyone thought this was a good idea.

David Attenborough — the famed broadcaster behind such shows as Planet Earth and Frozen Planet — warned the film’s director that the documentary could end up “killing the monarchy.” He said, "The whole institution depends on mystique and the tribal chief in his hut. If any member of the tribe ever sees inside the hut, then the whole system of tribal chiefdom is damaged." And he wasn't alone in his fear.

Milton Shulman from the Evening Standard also argued that having a TV show for the royals would be bad for their image. "Every institution that has so far attempted to use TV to popularize or aggrandize itself has been trivialized by it." And, to be fair, some of what the documentary showed did succeed in demystifying the royals to the public.

For example, we get an idea of how — in the words of Elizabeth's then press secretary, Sir William Heseltine — "painfully awkward" Charles was as an undergraduate. And in one eye-opening scene, Queen Elizabeth is seen on an outing with a four-year-old Prince Edward, who asks for an ice cream. In the brief sequence, the Queen does something that no queen has ever been seen doing before.

Queen Elizabeth reaches into her purse, pulls out some cash, and pays for Edward’s ice cream herself. Since the Queen would not have actually paid for her own meals, this was a never-before-seen moment captured by the cameras. It was a rare, sweet image for the stoic royals, too. And it wasn’t the only heartwarming part of the documentary. 

In another scene, the then Prince Charles is filmed teaching Edward how to play the cello. It’s all fun and games until a cello string suddenly snaps and hits Edward right in the face. This infrequent moment of humor among the royals stands out as one of the undoubtedly unscripted parts of the film. Yet it also became part of the reason why the documentary got banned.

Although the whole point of the doc was to show the family being normal, there was no getting around the fact that the royals simply weren't normal. This was particularly highlighted in a sequence when the family enjoyed an outing on the Royal Yacht Britannia. The ship is big enough to accommodate 220 crew members, after all.

“On the sea does not mean out of touch,” the narrator stated in the film. But it's hard to believe that the general public watching the documentary could relate to the excessive lifestyle unfolding before them. Because even as the film’s narrator insisted that the royals were totally normal, the viewer watched as a helicopter delivered the day’s newspapers to the yacht.

People watching the documentary also picked up on some awkward moments. A sequence showing Queen Elizabeth and President Richard Nixon especially stood out. It has since become one of the most talked-about segments of the documentary. While making small talk with the president, the Queen says, “World problems are so complex, aren’t they now?” And Nixon's response is, well, interesting.

"You know," Nixon says, "I was thinking how really much more complex they are than when we last met in 1957... I was out really for — I mean, out of power that is — I traveled a bit, but it's very different when you're in government again and have to check it out." By all accounts, however, the royals were initially delighted with the documentary.

The main goal of the documentary was, after all, to show the royal family as a modern family — not one out of time. And by showing scenes with Queen Elizabeth driving around in fast cars and Charles waterskiing, the film had done exactly that. Yet it also related how the family honored tradition and stayed relevant. If it was so successful, then why did the Queen ban it from being shown after 1977?

Queen Elizabeth even canceled her traditional Queen's Speech on Christmas Day for fear that she had been overexposed in the much-watched documentary. “We put heavy restrictions upon it because we realized it was a huge shift in attitude,” said William Heseltine. He also said the family thought that it should not "be shown every few months." And that was how it stayed... until it resurfaced in 2021.

For the first time in decades, then, the general public got to see the royal family in their “natural habitats.” And one scene in particular made for some pretty startling headlines. In a moment towards the end of the film, Queen Elizabeth is seen telling a story about an unnamed visitor whom her home secretary refers to with a rude name.

“It’s extremely difficult to keep a straight face when the home secretary said to me, ‘There’s a gorilla coming in,’” the Queen says to her family in the scene. “So I said, you know, ‘What an extraordinary remark to make — very unkind — about anybody.’” But then, the Queen relates what happened when she saw the visitor herself.

“I stood in the middle of the room and pressed the bell, and the doors opened and there was a gorilla,” she said. “I had the most terrible trouble keeping — you know, he had a short body and long arms. And I had the most appalling trouble.” People had theories about who the Queen was referring to as well.

Some people believe that she and her home secretary were referring to a former U.S. ambassador, though obviously, no one knows this for sure. Since Buckingham Palace and the BBC have not commented on the scene, we may never know who was the butt of the joke… Not that the uncomfortable moment shifted the public’s feelings about Queen Elizabeth much. And even though the documentary was banned, iconic pictures from the past can help us understand her history.

At the time of her birth, Queen Elizabeth II, then Princess Elizabeth, was third in line to the throne, as her father had yet to become King – more on that later. In this photo, the one-year-old princess was snapped passing through the gates of her parents’ London residence in the back of a carriage.

By the time her 90th birthday rolled around in April of 2016, Queen Elizabeth II was lending her patronage to hundreds of charities. This photo from 1929 proves that she began her quest to serve others early – she’s shown greeting former servicemen at a Disabled Soldiers Embroidery Industry Exhibition.

Queen Elizabeth II was famously a fan of Corgis, as evidenced by this photo of her as a child cuddling one in her arms. Her father acquired their first in 1933 – a pooch that the family named Dookie – after Elizabeth became very fond of a friend’s dog of the same breed. And after becoming Queen in 1952, she had in excess of 30 Corgis in her charge.

Queen Elizabeth’s uncle ascended to the throne as King Edward VIII in 1936. But he reigned for less than a year, because he chose to abdicate in order to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson. This fateful decision meant that Elizabeth’s father was made king as George VI – and she became his heir apparent. Here, she’s giving a big wave at his May 12, 1937, coronation.

Obviously, being the future Queen of England had its perks for 13-year-old Elizabeth. She and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, got up close and personal with some of the animals at London Zoo in 1939. Along with meeting penguins, a panda and chimpanzees, the royals also got to ride on the back of an elephant.

For more than 125 years, the Royal Life Saving Society has passed on the skills needed to save people from drowning. It turns out that Queen Elizabeth II was one of their pupils in the summer of 1939. Indeed, she won a medal from them after displaying her life-saving abilities at London’s Royal Bath Club.

In the midst of World War Two, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret spoke on the BBC’s Children’s Hour radio show in order to address kids who were displaced or otherwise affected by the conflict. During her speech, the 14-year-old future queen said, “We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well.”

Princess Elizabeth aided the war effort in more ways than one. For example, in 1941 she and her family put on a royal performance of Cinderella at Windsor Castle – Elizabeth, her mother and Margaret are pictured here. Their production raised money for the Queen’s Wool Fund, a charity that purchased the raw materials needed to produce military apparel.

The 1st Buckingham Palace Company of the Girl Guides was created just so that the then-Princess Elizabeth could be around other girls. Much like the U.S.’ Girl Scouts, the Girl Guides learn everything from survival skills to career prep and camping training. And Elizabeth’s company were able to do so in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

You’ll never need to wear a watch or look at a smartphone if you’re invited to Buckingham Palace. There are clocks everywhere. There are, in fact, at least 350 of them. And it falls to one person – the horological conservator – to maintain them all and make sure every last one displays the correct time. Here, then-princess Elizabeth seems more concerned with her knitting than the time, anyway!

Princess Elizabeth aspired to join the women’s armed forces during World War Two, in spite of the fact that her father didn’t want her to. But he eventually gave in, and she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). She picked up car maintenance skills during her service, which she can be seen using here.

Service in the ATS also meant that Princess Elizabeth drove ambulances, constructed engines, changed tires and plenty more. In contrast to her colleagues in the force, though, she was allowed to return home and sleep each night – her family stayed at Windsor Castle for most of World War Two, in fact.

From February to April of 1947, Elizabeth and her immediate family – King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and Princess Margaret – traveled 10,000 miles across South Africa. There, they met with their subjects throughout the country, including the mayor of Port Elizabeth, with whom Elizabeth chats in this photo.

Elizabeth accepted Philip Mountbatten’s marriage proposal before even discussing the matter her mother and father – that’s how crazy they were about each other. The king gave his consent, so long as they kept the engagement a secret until April of 1947, when Elizabeth would turn 21. Seven months after that, the couple wed in Westminster Abbey.

Just a year shy of their first wedding anniversary, Princess Elizabeth and her husband, who now had the title of Duke of Edinburgh, welcomed their first child, a son. With that, Prince Charles Philip Arthur George became second in line for the British throne, behind his mother.

This photograph is of Princess Elizabeth posing at the christening of Prince Charles in 1948. Charles is wearing a christening gown passed down from Queen Victoria herself. Many years later, his own sons William and Harry would wear it as babies at their own christenings.

On August 15, 1950, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh had another child, a daughter named Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise. In October of that same year, the newest princess had her christening – and a family photo session to go with it. Her big brother Charles appears to have had lots of energy on that day.

Every year on the reigning monarch’s birthday, the British and Commonwealth armies perform a ceremony in honor of the king or queen. In 1951 Princess Elizabeth rode her own horse to commemorate her father’s official birthday on June 7, although he was actually born on December 14.

Before she was queen, Elizabeth was a young mother of two. She had Prince Charles in 1948, when she was only 22 years old. Two years later, Princess Anne, her only daughter, came along. However, Prince Philip was present for neither birth. When Charles was born, Philip was off playing squash.

Another year, another Commonwealth tour for the princess and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. Here, they’re traveling in the back of an open car, waving at the people who’d gathered in front of the Capitol Theatre in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Their visit to the U.S. and Canada lasted five weeks.

Even a future queen has to wear waterproofs at Niagara Falls, where it’s famously misty. Here, she and Prince Philip take in the breathtaking natural wonder – which is actually a convergence of three separate waterfalls – alongside Niagara Falls’ then-mayor, Ernest Hawkins.

The Queen’s Christmas speech was a longstanding tradition, but she had to learn how to do it back in the '50s. This picture is her giving her very first one after her father died, and she inherited the crown. In it she said, “My father, and my grandfather before him, worked all their lives to unite our peoples ever more closely, and to maintain its ideals which were so near to their hearts. I shall strive to carry on their work.”

In many photographs of the Buckingham Palace interior, you can see a chandelier. There are so many of them, so you might wonder how on earth they stay lit and maintained? Well, in the olden days, King George IV kept a staff of 30 workers purely for the sake of chandelier-lighting. They did a great job — the Queen looks radiant here!

Following the death of her father in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne and immediately took on her duties as the nation’s monarch, although her official coronation didn’t take place until June of 1953. Here, she’s making sure a parade of the First Grenadier Guards meet the highest standards in April 1953.

The same Commonwealth tour that brought the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to Fiji also took them to New Zealand. In January 1954 they traveled through the country, stopping in 46 towns, allowing roughly three-quarters of New Zealanders to catch a glimpse of the royal couple. In this photo, they’re checking out the dangling stalactites at the Aranui Cave.

No one looks very happy in this photograph, but that’s perhaps because Charles’ childhood apparently wasn’t all that happy. His mother was, after all, queen of an entire country, and her duties kept her so busy that she didn’t always have time for him. Charles was often left in the care of nannies instead.

Queen Elizabeth II was fond of horses since her childhood, and we’ve already seen photos of her riding as an adult. Here, she and the Queen Mother take in the Badminton Horse Trials from the sidelines. The competition began as a way to prepare British competitors ahead of important international equestrian meetings.

No trip to New York City would be complete without a journey to the top of the Empire State Building – even the Queen of England had to go in 1957. At that time, the skyscraper was the world’s tallest building, a title it held up until 1970.

Royal etiquette mandated that the Queen had to have a driver whenever she was out in public. But she still had the right to hop behind the wheel herself when traveling about her royal estates and other private venues. Indeed, rumor has it that her WWII training made her into a very capable driver. Here, though, she’s just a mom chauffeuring her kids around the Windsor estate.

Time and time again, photographers captured images of Queen Elizabeth II at moments when she, too, was behind the lens of a camera. This picture of her partaking in her creative hobby was snapped in Windsor Park in 1960 as she walked with her beloved Corgis.

Through retriever trials, dogs of these breeds show off their prowess in the field in all kinds of different ways. In 1967 Queen Elizabeth II put her pooch Wren to the test in the Open Stake Retriever Trials at her Scottish home, Balmoral.

Queen Elizabeth II’s private estate, Sandringham, sits in the midst of the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England. After a vacation there in early 1968, she headed back to London in a surprising manner – she and her Corgis caught the train to Liverpool Street Station in the heart of the city.

We can see here that although in 1969 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh boarded a private jet, they otherwise appeared to travel like the rest of us. She read the paper and filled the seat next to her with her personal effects, while he flipped through a magazine.

By 1972 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip had four children – Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward – and 25 years of marriage under their belts. To celebrate their silver anniversary, they shared a series of photos including this one of the reigning monarch aboard her yacht, the HMY Britannia.

Elizabeth and Margaret’s mother was Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the wife of King George VI. By all accounts, she remained close to both her daughters throughout her long life. She passed away at the age of 101 – just seven weeks after her younger child Margaret died. Her grave sits alongside those of her husband and daughter.

An accomplished equestrian, Princess Anne competed in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal – and her mother grabbed a front-row seat to watch. In fact, Elizabeth’s security staff worried about her position in the crowd, as she chose to stand right next to the water jumps that each competitor had to clear.

Queen Elizabeth II once again found herself at an equestrian event in 1978, this time the Windsor Horse Show. In order to hand out the winners’ awards, though, she needed to walk through mud. And, by the look on her face, she wasn’t overjoyed about the path she had to take.

Queen Elizabeth II made her way south to Marrakech, Morocco, in October of 1980. There, she eventually met with King Hassan, although this image shows the English monarch as she awaits his arrival. Considering the last handful of photos, it’s unsurprising that the pair later took in an equestrian display together.

The Queen of England found herself in the presence of an equine friend once more in 1982. On this occasion, she and the then-President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, rode side-by-side through her Windsor estate. Even though the Reagans left the White House in 1989, they maintained a bond with the Queen for years to come.

The fall of 1982 saw Queen Elizabeth II returning to the South Pacific, where she was welcomed to the island nation of Tuvalu. Once the natives had rowed the queen ashore, they carried her in her canoe on their shoulders, and the monarch waved from her high perch.

Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to go to China during a 1986 state visit. Her first few days were spent visiting sites in and around Beijing. She and the Duke of Edinburgh saw the Great Wall – as well as the Forbidden City and Ming emperors’ tombs – before moving on to their second Chinese destination, Shanghai.

A fire engine from 1939 served as the perfect backdrop for a 1988 photo of the British Royal Family. And it also clearly delighted the Queen’s grandchildren Prince William, Prince Harry and Peter and Zara Phillips. She eventually posed alongside her son, Prince Charles, his then-wife, Princess Diana, and all of the little ones.

Visiting the U.S. in the springtime of 1991 gave Queen Elizabeth II the chance to experience the country’s national pastime, baseball. In fact, she received an invitation from the owner of the Baltimore Orioles to take in a game. And she accepted, along with two very special guests: then-President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara.

Just prior to lunchtime, Queen Elizabeth II reportedly had her first libation of the day, a blend of gin and Dubonnet. The latter is a type of fortified wine. At lunch, she apparently sipped on wine, and in the evening the Queen clinked a glass or two of champagne. So, it was only natural for her to sample some Australian wine while visiting Adelaide in 2002.

Here, the camera caught the Queen and Sophie, Countess of Wessex and the wife of Prince Edward, sharing a moment together. The two women appeared to be very close. In fact, Sophie was known for addressing the Queen as “Mama” in her speeches, and she was reportedly the Queen’s favorite of all her daughters-in-law.

This shot from Royal Ascot in 2013 probably wasn’t intended to be hilarious, but Princess Eugenie accidentally photobombing her famous grandmother the Queen makes it so anyway. Despite the “we are not amused” look on the Queen’s face in the picture, she and Princess Eugenie were reportedly very close.

If we were celebrating our 90th birthday, we'd be tired of all the birthday hullabaloo, too! Perhaps that's why Queen Elizabeth was peering out at the gathering crowds in this 2016 photo. With thousands of guests on the guest list, we bet the Queen was longing for a hot bath and a nap. But ever the professional, Queen Elizabeth later attended the event with a smile.

For most of the winter, you could find Queen Elizabeth II at Sandringham House. In 2018 she made her way to the Norfolk, England, estate on December 20th by way of a train from London’s Kings Cross station. Here, she’s pictured arriving at King’s Lynn station just in time for the holidays to begin.

Trooping the Color is always a fun event for royal fans, since they get to see all of them in their finest outfits, usually with their kids as well. Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and their cousin Savannah Phillips all turned up for the 2018 ceremony, and it was absolutely freakin’ adorable. The Queen seemed to be delighted by her great-grandchildren, too!

There are many photographs of the Queen pulling accidental silly faces. If you’ve got cameras following you around all the time it’s pretty much inevitable. But this one, taken at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 2019 when the Queen’s horses were competing, might just win the prize for best one ever.