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Royal family given veto on use of footage of Queen’s funeral

Jim Waterson

3 - 4 minutes

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British television channels gave Buckingham Palace a veto on the use of footage from Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, indicating the complicated relationship around the media’s coverage of the monarchy.

As part of an agreement with news broadcasters, the royal household was given the right to request that particular pieces of footage from the funeral services at Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle were not used again.

Royal staff sent messages to the BBC, ITV News and Sky News during the event with the timestamps of footage they wished to exclude from future news broadcasts and social media clips. As a result, five short pieces of video featuring members of the royal family were removed from circulation.

Although the sections were relatively brief, the decision to give the palace a veto on what footage could be used has caused unease among some journalists who worked on the coverage, in ongoing tension at British media outlets between marking the death of a major national figure and allowing news coverage to be shaped by the royal family. . .Broadcasters largely left wider constitutional questions about the future of the monarchy out of their coverage. Dermot Murnaghan, who co-presented the funeral coverage on Sky News, told the Guardian the “proper order of funerals is to retain respect” and that there would be a chance to look at such issues in the future..." 

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