RDF faces legal action from the Queen

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 13-Aug-07, 11:15

LONDON - The Queen has instructed her lawyers to take action against RDF Media for misrepresenting her by suggesting she had walked out of a photo shoot.

The Sunday Telegraph has reported that the Queen's law firm, Farrer & Co, has written to RDF to explain the company has put itself in breach of its contract with Buckingham Palace, and has written a similar letter to the BBC.

Last month, RDF was forced to apologise to the Queen and the BBC after it supplied a misleading trailer for its programme 'A Year with the Queen' for the launch of BBC One's autumn schedule to journalists.

Footage had been reordered to suggest Her Majesty had walked out of the photoshoot with famed photographer Annie Leibovitz in anger, but this was not the case.

The BBC is currently conducting an internal investigation into the affair, and an RDF spokeswoman said it would be inappropriate to comment on the Sunday Telegraph's story during the investigation.

The paper quotes sources close to the Queen as saying there are "serious doubts whether the programme will ever see the light of day".

Mark Stephens, a senior media lawyer with Finers Stephens Innocent, told the Sunday Telegraph he thinks the Queen has a strong case for breach of contract.

He said: "The Queen agreed to appear in a programme subject to standard editorial guidelines and controls. The editorial standards of the BBC require them not to present a false picture. If they do portray someone in a false light, they have breached their contract."