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A video of Queen Elizabeth II confronting a group of photographers who were crowding her during the 1980s has gone viral on the social media platform TikTok, generating over 260,000 views.
The video, uploaded by user the_royal_family_devotee, has been liked over 5,000 times and provoked discussion among its comments as viewers witnessed a side to the queen she has rarely displayed throughout her historic 70-year-long reign.
The post shows footage captured during the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 1988, an event held in the shadow of the monarch's Windsor Castle home and an event the queen has reportedly not missed during her adult life.
Dressed informally in a raincoat, plaid skirt and silk headscarf, the queen is shown standing among a crowd of spectators watching an event which is reported to have been a carriage driving competition in which Prince Philip was taking part.
When a crowd of photographers encroaches on the queen and her view of the proceedings she is heard to shout "do you mind?" while motioning for the group to dissipate—which they quickly did.
"Could you imagine being yelled at by the queen?" one commenter posted to the video, with another adding: "My heart would have SANK. I can't imagine how it feels to inconvenience or annoy Her Majesty."
The uploader pointed out that standing beside the queen dressed in pink was her sister Princess Margaret. The two sisters were said to have shared a close bond and were often seen at informal events together,
"Just love Princess Margaret's grin when photographers are scolded for getting in the way," a caption on the video reads.
"Princess Margaret didn't bat an eye. She knew what was coming," another wrote.
This burst of emotion is not the first time that the queen's displeasure has been captured on camera.
In 2006 the monarch was filmed for a special BBC documentary series titled Monarchy: The Royal Family At Work. One segment of the series focussed on the queen's portrait sitting with renowned American photographer Annie Leibovitz.
Dressed in a complicated ceremonial outfit and in somewhat of a rush, the queen was filmed in a frosty exchange with Leibovitz when asked to remove her tiara.
"I think it will look better without the crown," Leibovitz told the monarch. "Could we try it without the crown? It will look better—less dressy."
To this the queen was shown to be exasperated, responding: "less dressy! What do you think this is?" gesturing to the rest of her outfit.
When Leibovitz persisted that the crown might be removed "just for a couple of frames," the documentary shows the queen laughing at the suggestion.
The exchange attracted considerable attention at the time of broadcast, not least because the BBC had used a clip of the monarch appearing to storm out of the sitting in the trailer for the show.
The BBC issued an apology to Buckingham Palace after it was revealed that the clip used actually showed the queen walking into the sitting, not storming out.
The viral video of the queen's scolding of photographers at the Royal Windsor Horse Show is rare, in part because the monarch generally abides by the well known motto of "never complain, never explain" when it comes to her personal and public lives.
The clip's popularity on TikTok means that it is likely being seen by younger users.
Data published by Statista in September 2021 shows that 25 percent of TikTok users in the U.S. are aged between 10 and 19, while 49 percent of users are under the age of 30.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more