Factual error: Peter Townsend wears the rank insignia of a group captain (and is referred to as Group Captain Townsend) from the beginning of the series in 1947. In fact, Townsend was promoted from wing commander to group captain on 1 January 1953. He was also appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in 1947, but is never seen wearing the appropriate medal ribbon, which should come first on his collection.
Continuity mistake: After the wedding between Elizabeth and Phillip, the royal family walks to the Buckingham Palace balcony to greet the British citizens. Peter gives a lit cigarette to King George VI who takes a few puffs, hands it back to Peter, then walks toward the balcony. He stops for a moment, attempts to straighten his jacket and inadvertently pulls his tie down about half an inch, making it look disheveled. A few seconds later, the Queen Mother turns to help walk the king outside. Now, the king's tie is straightened up as it was about five seconds earlier. (00:17:35)
Factual error: When carolers enter the room, a teen girl with modern dental braces is shown. Dental braces of the time did not glue directly onto the teeth as they do today. (00:41:55)
Continuity mistake: On the morning of King George VI's death, the King's valet is in the dumbwaiter lift bringing up the King's tea and breakfast. Inside the lift shows the valet pulling the rope as it raises to the King's sleeping floor. The waiters are facing front and away from the valet, and the covered wall light is located closest to the main door with the rope in the left-rear corner. As the lift stops, the waiters are now facing the valet to the left, and the covered wall light is now located closest to the rear of the lift with the main rope now located in the left-front corner. These two scenes were filmed in two separate sets. (00:23:05)
Factual error: In the opening, a number of Lancaster bombers are flying over Windsor Castle, they did not come in to service until 1942. (00:00:20)
Factual error: Once the Queen has given Mr. Churchill his "dressing down", he simply turns to leave the room. However, he had not been dismissed. The Queen always pushes a button positioned on a side table to call her equerry who enters the room to escort guests out. With Mr. Churchill, she did not request her equerry. (00:54:00)
Factual error: Prince Phillip is boarding the yacht, and seen in the background is a red modern vessel that would not have been around in that era. The vessel shows very modern signs of shipbuilding in its new shape, and modern rescue craft. With satellite domes located on the bridge.
Factual error: As HMS Britannia sails North, there is a disabled symbol on her stern. Pretty sure the RN wasn't interested in disabled accessibility in the 1950's.
Continuity mistake: As Philip paints his parrot, its head can be seen half-painted. When Parker enters the room and the camera switches focus to him, the head can be seen in the background fully-painted. However, when the camera returns to Philip, the parrot's head is again only half-painted. (00:24:42)
Continuity mistake: During the photo shoot, after Tony takes the final shot and tells Margaret to "get dressed", so he can show her his place, she is wearing a different blouse and different earrings when she comes upstairs to his apartment.
Mystery Man - S2-E10
Continuity mistake: When Elizabeth arrives to visit Margaret early in the episode she is bare-headed. When she leaves she is wearing a hat and a neck scarf which she wasn't wearing when she arrived.
Factual error: When the Queen is informed by telephone that Winston Churchill has died it is after a family birthday celebration meal for her Uncle Prince Henry. Everyone is in formal attire or black tie, meaning the party was an evening one. Light is visible through the windows in both the dining room and drawing room where the queen takes the phone call. Prince Henry's birthday does coincide with the date of Winston's death, in late January. At this time of year in London the sun sets very early, around 4:30pm. The family dinner would have taken place when it was dark out. (00:25:10)
Factual error: When the lunar module lands on the moon, you can see light coming through the windows and everyone is fully dressed. In reality, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon at 2:53 AM London time. It would have been completely dark and everyone would have likely been in night clothes or evening attire.
Factual error: During the intro, the pilot is talking to a British Air Traffic Controller (ATC) as he's lining up his aircraft for landing at Benson (RAF Airport) in South Oxfordshire, England. The pilot reports "We're passing through flight level one-seven, for 2,500." Flight Level (FL) one-seven is 1,700 feet. In English (no pun intended), the pilot is saying he is passing through altitude 1,700 feet to his desired altitude of 2,500 feet. This may make sense if they were increasing their altitude, but since the pilot is preparing to land, it doesn't. (00:00:25)
Suggested correction: Flight level 1 7 refers to 17000 feet.
Flight Levels are in increments of hundred feet, not thousand feet. FL one-seven is 17 hundred feet (1,700). 17,000 feet would be FL one-seven-zero.
Revealing mistake: On the episode where Diana goes to New York and visits the hospital, it is filmed in the Reynolds Building at UMIST. Visible through the window is the Mancunian way with the car travelling on the left (not right) side of the road.
Factual error: Sir Martin Charteris, depicted as being Private Secretary throughout the series (which begins in 1979), actually retired in 1977. Sir Philip Moore and Sir William Heseltine were the real Private Secretaries during this period.
Factual error: In the final scene Lady Diana is being pursued by photographers during the time of her courtship with Prince Charles. The most prominent car in the scene has an 'X' registration plate. The registration letter 'X' was only used from August 1981 onwards - after the wedding of Charles and Diana.
Favourites - S4-E4
Continuity mistake: Margaret Thatcher tells the Queen that her son Mark has gone missing during the Dakar Rally. Mark's team hadn't been heard from in two days. Apparently in the evening of the same day the Queen and Prince Philip sit together and watch the news. You can hear the voice of the TV-commentator: "Mark Thatcher is missing for five days." And then the Queen tells Philip "The prime minister said something interesting today." So, what's right? 2 days or 5 days? (00:03:30 - 00:05:00)
Factual error: The Guards band playing at the garden party (in 1982) includes female musicians in the same uniform as the men. Until integration in 1992, the only female musicians in the British Army were members of the Band of the Women's Royal Army Corps. Women did not join Guards bands and wear their uniform until well into the 1990s.
