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History of the Royal Film Performance
Known until 1948 as the Royal Command Film Performance, this is one
of the highlights of the film industry's year.
The very first Royal Command Film Performance was held at Marlborough
House on 21 July 1896 before forty Royal guests
The showing followed a request from pioneer cinematographer Birt Acres of New Barnet,
Hertfordshire, to be allowed to exhibit publicly a film he had taken the previous month of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) attending the Cardiff Exhibition
Before giving his permission, The Prince of Wales asked Acres to bring the film to Marlborough House for inspection
It was screened in a specially erected marquee together with twenty other short films, including Tom Merry the Lightning Artist drawing Mr Gladstone and Lord Salisbury, the Derby Races of 1895 and 1896, Henley Regatta and scenes showing a boxing kangaroo, a great Northern Railway express train and the pursuit of a pickpocket
The following year, in November 1897, H. J. Hitchins presented to Queen Victoria a selection of Diamond Jubilee and other films taken for the Lumiere Cinematographe
They were accompanied by a full orchestra under the baton of Leopold Wenzel
This was not the first time Queen Victoria had seen moving pictures, though the previous
showing had been by the Court Photographer of a film he had made of the Royal Family, so cannot strictly speaking be called a Command Performance
The first feature film presented by Royal Command was Cecil Hepworths production of "Comin' Through the Rye", starring Alma Taylor, which was shown before Queen Alexandra in the State Dining Room of Marlborough House on 4 August 1916
Hepworth was no stranger to Command Performances, having been present at the very first one when he had acted as assistant to Birt Acres
The first feature film to be presented by command of the Sovereign was "Tom Brown's Schooldays", which Lew Waren exhibited for King George V and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace on 24 February 1917
More Recent Times
The current run of Royal Film Performances in aid of the CTBF (Cinematograph Television Benevolent Fund) began in 1946 when King George VI, as Patron, and Queen Elizabeth took The Princess Elizabeth and The Princess Margaret to see David Niven and Marius Goring in "A Matter of Life and Death"
Film Premieres attended by members of the Royal Family
Not to be confused with the Royal Film Performance, film premieres often become Royal occasions when, in support of a charity with which they are connected, members of the
Royal Family attend the gala opening of a particular film.
In many ways, such events very much resemble the Royal Film Performance but it is only
the film shown at the latter occasion which may be described as the Royal film of the year
Buckingham Palace Press Office
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