A 1930’s home movie released in July 2015 shows Edward VIII apparently teaching Queen Elizabeth II how to perform a Nazi salute when she was a child.
The Sun published the 20-second photo which appears to show Prince Edward showing the future queen and her sister how to perform a Nazi salute. A still from the film appeared on the cover of the print version of The Sun with a headline that reads, “Their royal heilnesses.”
It was shot in the early 1930’s when then-Princess Elizabeth was about 6 or 7 years old and her sister, Princess Margaret was about three. The film was taken at the family’s residence in Scotland around the time Hitler rose to power in Germany.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman criticized the story by stating, “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 royal source also noted that 6-year old Elizabeth would not understand the meaning to the gesture: “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 source also referred to the salute as “entirely innocent of attaching any meaning to these gestures.”
The Sun quoted Nazi expert Dr. Karina Urbach, who said, “The Queen has a proud Second World War record and sense of duty to her country and no one would ever suggest she was sympathetic to Nazi Germany…She was a child when this film was shot, long before the atrocities of the Nazis became widely known.”
Many analysts have suggested that Edward was catalyst for the salute, noting that he was sympathetic to Hitler. As The Sun explained, “We publish them today, knowing they do not reflect badly on our Queen, her late sister or mother in any way. They do, however, provide a fascinating insight into the warped prejudices of Edward VIII and his friends in that bleak, paranoid, tumultuous decade.”