BFI Investigates Queen 'Nazi Salute' Film Leak

The British Film Institute has launched an investigation into how footage of the Queen performing a Nazi salute came into the hands of The Sun newspaper.

As a Buckingham Palace inquiry continues, the BFI confirmed it has been working to digitise private films from the royal household since 2012 - and some recordings date back to the 1920s.

The BFI's National Archive has been responsible for the collection since the 1960s.

When the digitisation project was announced by the BFI during Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee year, the Queen visited the institute's headquarters on London's Southbank.

The Royal Collection Trust is also trying to establish how the grainy 17-second film entered the public domain and came into the hands of The Sun.

It was apparently shot in 1933 - and features the monarch aged six or seven with the Queen Mother, her uncle Prince Edward, and younger sister Princess Margaret.

Depending on what emerges during the investigation, it is possible Buckingham Palace will be looking at issues of possible criminality and copyright infringement.

Over the weekend, a Palace spokesman said: "It is disappointing that film, shot eight decades ago and apparently from Her Majesty's personal family archive, has been obtained and exploited in this manner."

A Palace source added: "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."

The Sun, which ran the story under the headline "Their Royal Heilnesses", acknowledged in its editorial column that the images "do not reflect badly on our Queen, her late sister or mother in any way".

Nonetheless, the paper's managing editor Stig Abell told Sky News: "A piece of historically interesting and valid footage has come our way and it's in the public and national interest in my view quite simply to publish it."