London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Secret royal documentary banned by the Queen is leaked and put on YouTube

A royal documentary the Queen banned nearly 50 years ago has been leaked online.


The royal documentary shows the Queen and Prince Charles in 1969

The 90-minute ‘fly-on-the-wall’ documentary was one of television’s great secrets, featuring never before seen footage of a young Prince Charles and Prince Philip cooking sausages on a barbecue.

It’s understood the Queen ordered the BBC film be locked away in 1972 over fears it would destroy their royal mystique.

But some 49 years later, it has emerged on YouTube with thousands of people watching the documentary, simply called ‘Royal Family’.


Prince Charles was in his early twenties when the documentary aired in 1969


The Queen was filmed popping to the shops to grab an ice cream


A royal source pointed the figure at the BBC saying it was a matter for the broadcaster.

‘From time to time, things pop up on the internet that should not be there,’ they told The Telegraph.

‘We will assume it’s going to be taken down.’

It does appear the video was taken down from YouTube, with one link to a now-deleted page saying the footage is ‘no longer available due to a copyright claim by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)’.

A BBC spokesperson told Metro.co.uk they would not be commenting, but a source said they would approach YouTube to have it removed.


A BBC source said they would ask YouTube to remove the film


‘We always exercise our copyright where we can,’ the source told The Telegraph.

‘However, it is notoriously difficult to chase these things down on YouTube once they are out there. Anybody can download it and you just end up chasing your tail.’

The documentary, created by Richard Cawston, was watched by more than 30 million people when it originally aired on BBC One and ITV in 1969.

It was replayed repeatedly before being pulled from screens in 1972.

A royal biographer said the documentary came to be seen as a ‘reinvention that went wrong’, with the Queen regretting her decision to allow it.


Princess Anne, then 19, and Prince Philip prepare a barbecue in Scotland


Former BBC controller Sir David Attenborough is believed to have said the film was ‘killing the monarchy’.

Camera crews spent 12 months filming the royals, giving the British public a glimpse into their rarely seen private lives.

They were shown watching television, enjoying a picnic and rowing boats on a lake.

Prince Charles was portrayed as the active young man, waterskiing, cycling and fishing, while the Queen attends to her horses and opens letters at her desk.

The cameras even followed the royal servants pushing the Queen’s lunch on a trolley down ‘200 yards of corridors and then up in a lift two floors’ to her apartments.

In one scene, the Queen discusses some of her outfits, tiaras and jewellery, saying ‘this one, one might possibly keep for Australia’.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×