London– An infamous 1969 fly-on-the-wall documentary about the British royal family, supposedly banned by Queen Elizabeth II for decades for giving the public an overly intimate view of the royals, has been mysteriously leaked onto YouTube.
The film provided an unprecedented look inside the royal households and was watched by millions when it first aired on the BBC. But it was subsequently stashed in the corporation’s archives, reportedly at the request of Buckingham Palace, and hasn’t been aired since the 1970s.
It isn’t known how the program, titled “Royal Family,” was unearthed or posted it to YouTube. The video was swiftly removed from the video-sharing platform after a copyright request was made.
In the film, the monarch reportedly compares the US ambassador to a gorilla. “There was a gorilla. I had the most terrible trouble he had a short body, long arms,” the PA Media news agency quoted her as saying.
Other, more mundane scenes, showing the royals eating together and the Queen rummaging in her purse to buy six-year-old Prince Edward candy in a shop. These scenes were considered groundbreaking for showing the famously opaque family in a new light.
“This disgusting gooey mess is going to be in the car, isn’t it?” the Queen declares, according to PA.
The 110-minute film was watched by 30 million people in 1969 and remained one of the UK’s most-viewed television broadcasts. The BBC estimates more than 350 million watched it worldwide.
