Buckingham Palace has expressed disappointment at the Sun newspaper which has released footage from 1933 showing a young Queen performing the Nazi salute. The Queen was about six or seven when the footage was filmed. The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Prince Edward also feature in the film.

The palace said it was "disappointing that film, shot eight decades ago... has been obtained and exploited". The Sun, however, denied that the footage

The 17-second footage shows the Queen playing with a dog on the lawn in the gardens of Balmoral, the Sun says. The Queen Mother then raises her arm in the style of a Nazi salute and, after glancing towards her mother, the Queen mimics the gesture. Prince Edward, the future Edward VIII, is also seen raising his arm.

The footage is thought to have been shot in 1933 or 1934. At the time, Adolf Hitler was rising to prominence in Germany.

A Buckingham Palace source said: "Most people will see these pictures in their proper context and time. This is a family playing and momentarily referencing a gesture many would have seen from contemporary news reels. No one at that time had any sense how it would evolve. To imply anything else is misleading and dishonest.

The Queen and her family's service and dedication to the welfare of this nation during the war, and the 63 years the Queen has spent building relations between nations and peoples speaks for itself."

While Buckingham Palace did not deny the authenticity of the footage, questions have been raised over how the video has been released. An investigation is expected to follow.

Sun managing editor Stig Abell said he did not accept Buckingham Palace's accusation that the footage has been "exploited". He said the newspaper had decided to publish the story because it was of great public importance and the involvement of Prince Edward gave it "historical significance".

The then Prince of Wales faced numerous accusations of being a Nazi sympathiser and was photographed meeting Hitler in Munich in October 1937.

Mr Abell said: "We are not using it to suggest any impropriety on behalf of them. But it is an important and interesting issue, the extent to which the British aristocracy - notably Edward VIII, in this case - in the 1930s, were sympathetic towards fascism. That must be a matter of national and public interest to discuss. And I think this video and this footage animates that very clearly."