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Rare footage of The Queen revealed on Inside Out South East
Previously unseen footage of Her Majesty The Queen and her cousin Lord Mountbatten taken in Kent will be shown in next week's Inside Out programme on 91Èȱ¬ One South East.
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The footage, which is in the care of Screen Archive South East, was taken at a christening but its origin is a mystery until Inside Out turns detective and tracks down when the christening took place, exactly who was involved, and even the man who was the baby at the happy event.
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Discovered by Leeds 91Èȱ¬ TV producer Tony Parker in the boot of a car in Yorkshire as he searched for footage of the Second World War, the only clue as to who it belonged to was some labelling with other accompanying material which carried the name Dr Victor Don.
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It turns out that the Dr Don was a doctor from Ashford in Kent and the footage was subsequently handed over to Screen Archive South East.
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Screen Archive dated the film as being around the Fifties though, unusually for the time, the footage is in colour.
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In addition to the young Princess Elizabeth, as she was then, Lord Mountbatten can be seen in the background.
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Beginning the process of finding out who is who, and where and why the film was made, Inside Out shows the footage to Royal historian Hugo Vickers who fills in most of the gaps and tells Inside Out's Cheryl Baker:
"The presence of Lord Mountbatten was obviously a big clue and I also recognised his daughter who was holding the baby, Patricia Brabourne and her husband John Brabourne.
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"Obviously Mountbatten was the grandfather and in fact the Queen, as Princess Elizabeth, was godmother to the second son Michael John in 1950."
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Having established whose christening it was and the date it happened, Inside Out tracks down the baby, now 58-year-old Michael John Knatchbull, son of John Knatchbull the seventh Lord Brabourne.
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After seeing the film for the first time in 58 years – footage he never knew existed – Michael tells Cheryl what it's like to have the Queen as his Godmother:
"Well... it's wonderful... it's a bit daunting... having to sit next to your Godmother. It's not like sitting next to Mrs Smith. I have to really behave!"
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He also talks to Cheryl about his emotions at seeing the film for the first time: "It makes me feel joyful and a little sad in some ways as well, seeing a lot of people there who are dead now who I was very fond of. Still am."
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Michael's grandmother and younger brother were killed in a fishing trip in 1979 with Lord Mountbatten when he was assassinated by the IRA.
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Michael says of his grandfather: "I miss him dearly – he was such a wonderful man, a wonderful grandfather. Just seeing him now in that film brings back so many fond memories of him."
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Dr Victor Don was the Knatchbull family doctor.
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Coincidentally, before he died John Brabourne became Patron of the Screen Archive South East, where Dr Don's film is now stored.
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Inside Out, 91Èȱ¬ One South East, 7.30pm, Wednesday 24ÌýSeptember 2008. Also available on 91Èȱ¬ iPlayer
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