Palace may have released Nazi salute film

The footage of Princess Elizabeth performing a Nazi salute may have been inadvertently released to a documentary maker.

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor at their controversial meeting with German leader Adolf Hitler in Munich. Wartime premier Winston Churchill's concern that the Duke of Windsor was openly allying himself with pro-Nazis is shown clearly in long-secret documents made public. (AAP) Source: Press Association

Footage showing the Queen performing a Nazi salute as a child could have been accidentally leaked by Buckingham Palace, a British newspaper says.

The edited clip shows the young princess, aged six or seven, join the Queen Mother and her uncle Prince Edward in raising an arm in salute.

The Palace has expressed its disappointment that the film was obtained by The Sun newspaper, and has launched an inquiry into the leak.

But Britain's the Daily Telegraph says the footage may have been inadvertently released to a documentary maker, after a flurry of requests for the unseen royal home movies.

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: "There is an inquiry going on to find the source of the footage and until that inquiry is completed we would not give out any further information."

The Palace is considering taking legal action over the footage, which was taken in 1933.