As newsreel footage plainly demonstrates, VE Day marked not only the end of the second world war in Europe, but the beginning of the UK’s all-time biggest piss-up, as a million revellers poured on to the streets to join together and do the Lambeth Walk as if their lives depended on it. Among the masses were two faces rarely seen outside of listed buildings: Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth, who – in celebration of the Nazi defeat – were allowed to roam incognito through the crowd.
Now on DVD, A Royal Night Out posits a more fanciful version of the story, in which the future queen and her sister elude their royal escorts and embark upon a whistle-stop tour of London’s wildest night spots, from the luxury of Mayfair to the mid-century grime of Soho. For one night only, the city is transformed into a large-scale re-enactment of James Cameron’s Titanic, as the princesses venture into the domain of the working classes, who remove their hats in public and sing Roll Out The Barrel on command.
Elizabeth even finds herself a plucky, boyish suitor named Jack, who proves just as adept as Leonardo DiCaprio’s heartthrob at drawing a delicate English rose out of her shell, if through means a little more sombre (he’s scarred by the memory of his fallen comrades, whereas Leo just knew a lot about spitting). Of course, Elizabeth’s beau is nowhere to be found in official records of the outing, but then neither is an episode in which Princess Margaret has her drink spiked with Benzedrine and winds up in the back of a cab with a bevy of high-class prostitutes.
Any historical inconsistencies are fully accounted for in the final moments of the film, as the wayward royals return home to the palace and are told in no uncertain terms that “no one must ever know about this”. And so the story went untold for 70 years, until the fearless excavators of truth behind A Royal Night Out dared to fully expose this long-buried chapter in wartime history.
Also out this week
Fast & Furious 7 Queasily poignant eulogy to Paul Walker.
Girlhood A rollicking coming-of-age in the Paris banlieues.
Unfriended High-concept Skype horror, long at 83 minutes.
