So it should come as no surprise that the 94-year-old would occasionally offer words of wisdom to his regal friends – especially when it involves the subject of filmmaking.
Case in point: the time when Sir David reportedly tried to prevent a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the royal family from going public.
According to Express, Sir David, who is the same age as Her Majesty, reportedly slammed the producers of the ground-breaking 1969 joint ITV-BBC film The Royal Family.
The wildlife activist’s problem with the film, which was reportedly commissioned by Prince Philip, was that he believed it would “kill the monarchy” by removing their mystique.
The film, which originally aired on BBC One and ITV in June 1969, provided a never-before-seen glimpse into the monarchy and attracted more than 30 million viewers in the UK.
Footage from the film, which hasn’t been shown since 1972, includes Prince Philip grilling sausages at Balmoral and the Queen chatting with former US President Richard Nixon.
Majesty magazine editor Ingrid Sewell reportedly weighed in on Sir David’s alleged concerns in her biography The Queen and Di: The Untold Story.
She described how the British broadcaster apparently wrote to the creators of the film, begging them to not release the film out of fear of irreversible consequences.
“You’re killing the monarchy, you know, with this film you’re making,” Sir David allegedly penned in his letter to the film’s producers.
“The whole institution depends on a mystique and the tribal chief in his hut.
“If any member of the tribe ever sees inside the hut, then the whole system of the tribal chiefdom is damaged and the tribe eventually disintegrates,” he reportedly added.
According to Ingrid, the decision to release the film can be seen as an historic moment that encouraged intrusive interest in the royal family, which they now struggle to avoid.