Queen 'Nazi salute' movie was shown at Palace exhibition

Buckingham Palace is furious after footage showing the then Princess Elizabeth perform the salute was made public online by The Sun. Photo / AP

A home movie which shows the Queen aged seven apparently giving a Nazi salute may have been inadvertently released to documentary makers after it first emerged in a Royal exhibition last year, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Buckingham Palace is furious after footage from the 1933 family movie showing the then Princess Elizabeth perform the salute was made public online by The Sun at the weekend. An urgent investigation is trying to discover exactly how the private film ended up in the hands of the newspaper.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William and her husband Prince Philip. Photo / AP

But it has emerged that an edited clip showing Princess Elizabeth and her sister Margaret talking seconds - after the incident featured in an exhibition at Buckingham Palace last year.

It was part of a series of private Royal home movies that were made public for the first time. The apparent Nazi salutes did not - feature in the exhibition, called Royal Childhood.

However, the emergence of the Royal family's movies is understood to have generated a lot of interest and requests for access to them.

Many broadcasters are compiling profiles of the Queen before she becomes the longest reigning monarch in September and turns 90 next year.

It is believed the controversial scenes that have now emerged may have been accidentally passed on to interested documentary makers, a copy of which then found its way to The Sun.