Elizabeth II Banned This Documentary 50 Years Ago - Now It's Breaking YouTube Records
In 1969, the British queen commissioned a documentary about her family from the BBC television channel; the project was filmed from an insider's perspective on life at the palace.
However, Elizabeth II did not like the end result - and asked that the film never be aired again.
Fifty years later, the documentary with the pretty simple title Royal Family was posted on YouTube and broke some serious viewing records after it was mentioned in the Crown series on Netflix.
The documentary, which was initially intended to showcase the royal family in a favorable light, ended up featuring some candid and unguarded moments that the queen did not want the public to see.
Despite her efforts to keep the film hidden, it eventually surfaced on YouTube and quickly gained a large following. Viewers were fascinated by the behind-the-scenes look at the royal family and the insight it provided into life at the palace. The film's success on YouTube can be attributed in part to the queen's decision to ban it, as the forbidden nature of the documentary only added to its allure and drew even more attention to it.
Amazingly, this project managed to be watched by a third of the British population in 1969 before the Queen issued a ban three years later. The movie was supposed to show the subjects of the royal family as ordinary people: how they enjoy their time together and even how they cook meals for their loved ones. The Queen later strongly regretted that she gave her consent to filming, and some experts have expressed the opinion that the project threatens the continued existence of the monarchy.
BBC representatives promised to remove the footage and kept their word, but warned that the film is now unlikely to be permanently removed from the web.
"It's very difficult to remove something from YouTube after the video has appeared there. Anyone could download it and then upload it again," the source said.
It happened exactly like the source said after all; the documentary is still available on YouTube, re-uploaded by regular users.