David Dimbleby shared the discovery he made during the final part of his BBC documentary exploring the British monarchy.

David Dimbleby revealed a surprising discovery he made at the Queen’s funeral (Image: BBC)

BBC viewers were floored after David Dimbleby shared a discovery he made while reporting at the Queen’s funeral. The final episode of his three-part BBC series, What’s The Monarch For?, aired on Tuesday (December 16) evening, exploring moments when the Windsors lost control of their public image and examining how far they were willing to go to win back the press and public support. The episode began with coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, which Dimbleby, 87, claimed was marked by a “solemn state funeral”.

It was at the funeral that the presenter made an “interesting” discovery about how the institution of monarchy “seeks to control its image”. He revealed: “The Palace were issuing instructions to the broadcasters about scenes in the broadcast which they can’t ever use again. And they’re quite small things.” Dimbleby revealed that during the Queen’s funeral in 2022, certain moments were time-stamped in a way that meant they could never be broadcast again.

This included a scene in which the crown was handled and another showing an attendee at the funeral, who Dimbleby refused to name, looking visibly upset. Footage of Prince George of Wales touching his nose was also permanently banned from being used again, as were shots of Prince Edward and his wife Sophie’s handkerchiefs.

Reading from his notes, Dimbleby continued: “At the lying in state, shots of the royal family mouthing the Lord’s Prayer. These little excisions from reality are called by the Palace ‘perpetuity edits’. It’s kind of Gelorge Orwell-speak. Perpetuity edits.

“They remove from the world anything they don’t particularly like. Never to be seen again. It is a bit confusing because on the one hand, this is a family funeral of a mother and grandmother and you could argue they have the right to grieve in private.

“On the other hand, it’s been turned into a state occasion because the Queen was our head of state and this is her public funeral. Do we have a right to see it all? Or do they have the right to control what we see?”

Dimbleby revealed a clip of an attendee looking “visibly upset” at the Queen’s funeral was never allowed to be shown again (Image: BBC)

He added: “It happened. It’s reality. But no longer. It’s cut out.”

Commenting on the discovery, one viewer wrote: “‘Perpetuity edits’ is wrenching. And what weird requests to remove the reality and emotion #whatsthemonarchyfor.”

Another simply added: “‘Perpetuity edits’?! #WhatstheMonarchyfor.”

A third viewer posted “David Dimbleby pulls no punches in his superb documentary #WhatsTheMonarchyFor. They were obsessed with how they would be portrayed & ensured the media were 100% controlled. Maybe they have always known their days are numbered. At Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, the Royal Family demanded lots of changes & removals; referred to as ‘perpetuity’ edits.”

An additional fan shared: “Fascinating that the royals (unknown to many) always controlled their image and what we received, but that has fallen apart in these days of social media and investigative journalism.”