A View from the Top with David Frank, the TV exec who upset the Queen

His first company was thrown into crisis when an unfortunately edited clip featuring the Queen turned into a royal scandal – but David Frank still had faith in the business. He tells Andy Martin how he worked his way back to success

Back in 2007, Queen Elizabeth II was shown, in a short clip, seemingly stomping out of a photoshoot with Annie Leibovitz, muttering under her breath, clearly bad-tempered, having taken offence at the suggestion she should take her crown off.

Not scandalous, surely? No, but it was an early example of fake news. In fact, the Queen had arrived in a bit of a mood but had also enjoyed the shoot, and only unfortunate editing turned it around and made more of a drama out of it. The tabloids then piled in and talked of betrayal or treason, calling for heads to roll.

One of the heads belonged to David Frank, then chief executive of RDF Television, now cofounder and executive chairman of TRX (or The RightsXchange), an online marketplace for television.