Death of Elizabeth II: why will you never see certain images of the funeral again?

A historic TV event. On Monday, September 19, the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II took place in London. More than ten days after his death at Balmoral in Scotland, a funeral convoy that traveled the lands of the United Kingdom to the capital and the long queues to send a final farewell, billions of viewers have attended the funeral broadcast by the BBC around the world.

It was in Westminster Abbey that King Charles III, his sons William and Harry and the entire royal family, international heads of state and British personalities took part in the ceremony. Before the remains of the Queen of England were buried in Windsor, all the television channels in the world witnessed the event by dispatching their journalists and relocating their JTs (TF1, BFMTV etc.) across the Channel.

However, we learn that Buckingham Palace has ordered the media not to rebroadcast certain moments of this funeral. As detailed by our colleagues from Daily life the day after the ceremony, it would be strictly forbidden to show members of the royal family crying, wiping their tears with a handkerchief or even more absurdly, Prince George scratching his nose. A strict protocol to be respected in order to maintain the good image of the British crown.

To understand these reasons, journalist Caroline Hick intervened on France info to give some answers. “It is literally written that it is forbidden to show the ‘visible grief’ of the royal family. So if Harry cries, well, we can not show it”, according to the words of the Belgian head of the international editorial staff of the RTBF, relayed by Télé Loisirs. “The palace may identify images that it will ban from broadcasting, thereafter, and forever.”

Restrictions which nevertheless raise questions concerning the freedom of the press, and therefore to inform for journalists. “The BBC does not want the channels to broadcast the ceremony on social networks, when it is not a commercial event, but a global event open to the general public”, also protested Vanessa Burggraf , ex-columnist in We are not lying today director of France 24.

Interviewed on set on BFMTV, journalist Florentin Collomp believed that this desire to control the images was a “non-aggression pact” between the Windsors and the press. “William and Harry suffered a lot and accused the tabloids of some responsibility in the death of their mother”, according to comments transcribed by Ouest-France.