Nazis. .. at Blenheim
Fury as film turns Churchill birthplace into Hitler’s HQ
WHEN Adolf Hitler began his bombing campaign in Britain he is said to have planned that Blenheim Palace – Sir Winston Churchill’s birthplace – would be his UK headquarters.
While the Battle of Britain heroes stopped the Nazi tyrant achieving his dream, it seems the makers of a Hollywood blockbuster have other ideas.
For Churchill’s ancestral home was transformed into a Nazi headquarters by film-makers, who draped huge swastika flags from the palace.
The 2,000-acre estate was overrun with extras wearing SS uniform during filming of a Second World War scene as part of the hugely successful Transformers series.
Critics have described the decision to hire out the property as highly insensitive and said the wartime leader would have been appalled. People living near the estate at Woodstock in Oxfordshire complained about loud noise as explosions and fake gunshots were heard from the set during filming. Photographs showed tanks, military vehicles and sandbag barricades surrounding the vast courtyard in front of the palace.
A German anti-aircraft gun and ammunition boxes emblazoned with the imperial eagle motif were also spotted on the site. While members of the public were still allowed to roam the grounds during the day, props and equipment bearing swastikas were put up at night.
It is understood that management at the palace were aware of the nature of the script.
Tony Hayes, from the Veterans Association UK, said that the decision would ‘appal’ those who fought in the Second World War.
Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, told The Sun: ‘I know it’s a film, but it’s symbolically disrespectful to Churchill. He will be turning in his grave.’ But Churchill’s grandson, the Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Soames, dismissed the furore as ‘absolute nonsense’.
Blenheim Palace is one of a number of locations chosen by the producers of Transformers: The Last Knight, the fifth instalment of the popular series.
The £200million film is being directed by Michael Bay, whose films include Armageddon and Pearl Harbor, and stars Mark Wahlberg.
Bay said yesterday: ‘People have not been fortunate enough to read the script and they don’t know that Churchill in this movie is a big hero. Churchill would be smiling.’
Blenheim was made available as a film set by the 11th Duke of Marlborough John Spencer-Churchill to help pay for its maintenance. It was used in the latest James Bond instalment Spectre and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Sir Winston Churchill was born at the palace in 1874 and proposed to his wife Clementine there. He is buried at St Martin’s Church in Bladon, on the edge of the estate. The house is now occupied by the 12th Duke of Marlborough, Jamie Spencer-Churchill, 60, a former drug addict.
‘He will be turning in his grave’