The Sun Found A Video Of The Queen Giving The Nazi Salute

“Well well well…” said Prince Harry, as he stepped out from behind the curtains in The Queen’s drawing room holding a iPad. “Looks like someone will be borrowing my ‘Whoops, I didn’t mean to do Nazi stuff‘ apology.”

The Queen’s army of corgis are no doubt giving each other awkward glances in the halls of Buckingham Palace today, because footage of The Queen giving a Nazi salute was released by The Sun yesterday. The old-timey video was shot in either 1933 or 1934 and shows The Queen, The Queen Mum, The Queen’s little sister Princess Margaret, and their uncle Prince Edward throwing their hands in the air, and yeah, they’re all really going for it. According to The Sun (and Wikipedia), Edward VIII was a Nazi sympathizer who once claimed Hitler was “not a bad chap“, and I guess he thought getting his tiny nieces to do the salute would be cute or something.

Then again, there is no sound, so maybe they were at a birthday party and were raising their hands to let the host know they all wanted a slice of iced sponge? Yeah, that’s what I’m going to keep telling myself.

The Guardian says the editor of The Sun claims they released the video to “provide context” for attitudes before WW2. Uh huh. Sure, The Sun. Buckingham Palace has issued a statement about the footage, saying they were “disappointed” that it was being exploited, and question how The Sun got their hands on it. They also want you to know The Queen probably wasn’t serious.

“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.”

They also made sure to remind everyone that The Queen served England during WW2.

Now Duchess Kate finally has some leverage the next time The Queen threatens to have the palace guards burn her collection of wedges. “Oh, I’m sorry – you think my wedges are offensive? Do I need to remind you what else is offensive?“