Why Queen Elizabeth's Nazi salute is not a big deal

A leaked 17-second film which shows the current Queen of England performing the Nazi salute has angered the royal family who are contemplating legal action. The Sun ran a story on its front page with the headline: 'Secret 1933 film shows Edward VIII teaching this Nazi salute to the Queen'.

Apparently shot in 1933, it shows the monarch aged six or seven with the Queen Mother, her uncle Prince Edward, and sister Princess Margaret.

Before we all lose our marbles, let us examine the facts.

1) Queen Elizabeth was only six or seven years old then.

2) The salute was often used in England back then (1933, six years before WW II started) to mock the Hitler regime.

3) Although her uncle Edward (also in the video) was often criticised for being a Nazi supporter, his political standings, should have no bearing on the rest of the members of the royal family.

A Palace spokesman said: “It is disappointing that a film, shot eight decades ago and apparently from Her Majesty's personal family archive, has been obtained and exploited in this manner. 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 Queen is around six years of age at the time and entirely innocent of attaching any meaning to these gestures.”

The spokesman added: "The Queen and her family's service and dedication to the welfare of this nation during the war, and the 63 years the Queen has spent building relations between nations and peoples speaks for itself."

The Sun's managing editor Stig Abell defending the paper's actions 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.”

He also defended the paper's choice of the headline and said: "I think the nature of the coverage as a whole places this in the correct cultural context." Edward famously became the king in January 1936 but abdicated the throne 11 months later to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson. The couple even met Hitler in Germany in October 1937 which stoked accusations that he sympathised with the Nazi cause. Hitler's Third Reich had actually planned to install Edward as a puppet monarch in case of a British invasion.

The infamous Nazi salute was used widely in Britain to mock Hitler at the time and its performance was not automatically considered an approval of his regime. Also, the Queen was just six or seven years old in this video and can hardly be blamed for her actions.

Whatever her uncle's intentions, Queen Elizabeth throughout her life has always been staunchly anti-Nazi, even visiting an ex-concentration camp in June 2015.Currently, the salute is banned in Germany and Austria and its use, even ironically, is widely criticised

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