Royal tour: Stunned crew filmed Queen lashing out at Prince Philip in Victoria in 1954

IN a scene worthy of big-budget biopic The Crown, a film crew captured the moment the Queen chased Prince Philip from a Victorian country home and hurled abuse at him.

IN the modern era, it would have been the royal story of the century. But in Australia in 1954 an Aussie camera crew gave it all up for queen and country.

They inadvertently captured dynamite that day — the moment Queen Elizabeth chased Prince Philip from an isolated Yarra Ranges hideaway, shouting abuse and hurling sporting goods at him.

The film of the all-too-human private quarrel between the young couple in an isolated Yarra Ranges hideaway was never seen.

Had it have gone public amid doubts about her ability to reign following the death of her father, King George VI, during a gruelling eight-week tour of Australia, it could have been a disaster.

The royal tiff was revealed in royal writer Robert Hardman’s 2011 book, Our Queen, and re-created on film for the Netflix drama The Crown, which depicted the early years of Queen Elizabeth’s rule and aired in Australia on Foxtel late last year.

Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh seemed unimpressed by a koala during their visit to Melbourne in 1954.

The 1954 royal tour of Australia was in full swing when the Queen and Prince Philip slipped away for a weekend retreat near Healesville in March 1954.

Adoring crowds lined the streets of cities and towns all over Australia to get a glimpse of their young monarch and her dashing consort, but the monarchy was under a cloud.

These days, Queen Elizabeth is the Commonwealth’s longest reigning monarchy. It’s hard to imagine, but at the time there were concerns about her ability to maintain the House of Windsor, the Commonwealth and the monarchy itself.

Queen Elizabeth II presents the Silver Salver to Australian tennis champion Lewis Hoad in 1954 as Prince Philip looks on. Picture: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

These were uncertain times at the height of the Cold War, with pressure building inside many British dominions to break away from the empire and declare independence in the climate of post-war decolonisation.

Elizabeth, George VI’s elder daughter, assumed the throne on his death on February 6, 1952. Her coronation was held on June 2, 1953.

The trappings of power, and the inversion of traditional gender relations between Elizabeth and Philip, also put a strain on the royal marriage.

Throw into the mix an exhausting world tour and weeks broiling in Australian heat, and something had to give.

Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on the steps of Parliament during their visit to Melbourne.

By the otherwise serene shores of the O’Shannassy Reservoir at McMahon’s Creek on a Sunday afternoon in March 1954, it did.

What started the row will remain a mystery. As soon as he sensed movement from the house, cameraman Frank Bagnall rolled film, but he had no idea what he was about to capture.

Prince Philip ran through the door of the royal couple’s chalet, with the young Queen shouting as she chased him.

Lillian Parkes worked for Kodak in Flinders St and captured this photo of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh during their visit in 1954.

The hubbub must have echoed across the reservoir and into the bush-clad hills around them.

Elizabeth continued to shout, and tossed a tennis racquet and tennis shoes at her fleeing husband.

They stopped in their tracks when they caught sight of the film crew and, humiliated, retreated to the chalet.

What happened next is up for debate.

The dramatisation of the incident portrayed in The Crown had a much calmer Queen Elizabeth later approaching the crew, apologising for the incident and explaining that these things happen in any marriage. She asked: “Now, what would you like me to do?”.

Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown.

Claire Foy and Matt Smith in a scene from Netflix Original series The Crown.

The man who filmed the sequence then opened the film canister without speaking, exposed its precious celluloid contents to the light, destroying it, and handed the reels to Elizabeth, saying: “Another gift for Your Majesty”. She thanked him politely.

Hardman’s version in Our Queen differed. He reported that Her Majesty’s press secretary, Commander Richard Colville DSC, intervened in the matter, storming angrily towards the crew.

Known by the gentlemen of the press as “Sunshine” or “The Abominable No Man”, Colville was in no mood to allow that footage to see the light of day and the filmmaker, Loch Townsend, was in no mood to argue with him.

Townsend immediately exposed the film and handed it to Colville with the comment: “Commander, I have a present for you; you might like to give it to Her Majesty,” Hardman said.

Staff inside the house soon appeared with beer and sandwiches for the crew, who were waiting for Her Majesty in fading light to film.

Claire Foy and Matt Smith in a scene from Netflix Original series The Crown.

Queen Elizabeth then appeared, made her apology, and filming began.

In the feverish pace of the modern news cycle, the lure of a quick buck would have ensured the footage would have leaked and the royal couple would have been embarrassed.

If that film was released in 1954, could it have changed history? Could that display of human frailty have ended Queen Elizabeth’s reign almost as it began?

Whatever may have happened, that tempestuous moment high in the Yarra Ranges did not affect the remainder of the royal couple’s Australian tour or their marriage.

They will celebrate their 70th, or platinum, wedding anniversary on November 20 this year.

@JDwritesalot