Queen weighs legal action over misleading promo for BBC doc
The Queen's lawyers have studied a misleading BBC trailer that seemed to show her storming out of a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz and say it may be a breach of contract.
Farrer & Co., solicitors to Queen Elizabeth, have written a warning letter to the BBC and to RDF Media Group, the production firm that made the documentary, saying they may have breached their contract by portraying the monarch in a false light.
British newspapers are reporting there is pressure to scrap the documentary, A Year with the Queen, though the BBC continues to stand by the finished product.
Buckingham Palace signed contracts with the BBC and RDF before filming began and the royal solicitors have pored over these contracts to determine their legal rights.
"The Queen agreed to appear in a program subject to standard editorial guidelines and controls," Mark Stephens, an expert in media law, said in an interview with the Telegraph newspaper.
"The editorial standards of the BBC require them not to present a false picture. If they do portray someone in a false light, they have breached their contract."
The BBC apologized to the Queen over the promotional trailer, which appeared to show her storming out of a photo shoot with U.S. photographer Leibovitz in a dispute over whether to wear her crown.
In fact, there was no dispute and the footage actually shows the Queen striding purposefully toward the photo session.
The misleading promo was shown to journalists in a preview of the BBC's upcoming season.
RDF has taken responsibility for creating the promo and apologized to both the Queen and the BBC.
But the Queen's solicitors fear her reputation has been hurt by the gaffe and the documentary is "tainted" by the scandal.
Buckingham Palace said it will not discuss the dispute until the BBC completes an internal investigation into what went wrong.
The public broadcaster is in the midst of an investigation of the incident and says it is in contact with the Queen's legal representatives.