BBC1 controller quits over 'Crowngate'

BBC1 controller Peter Fincham has resigned over the "Crowngate" affair following an independent inquiry into the debacle.

On July 11, Mr Fincham announced at a press launch that a forthcoming documentary would show the Queen storming out of a sitting with celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Within hours he had discovered that the story was untrue - but did not correct it until the following morning.

Footage of the Queen apparently "walking out in a huff" following a row with Ms Leibovitz was actually a scene of her walking into the photoshoot. The BBC eventually apologised the following afternoon.

BBC executive Will Wyatt, who carried out the independent inquiry into the incident, was also highly critical of production company RDF, which made the programme and misleadingly edited the trailer.

RDF boss Stephen Lambert has also resigned as a result of the inquiry.

Mr Wyatt concluded that the decision - taken with the Buckingham Palace press office - to delay correcting the story until the following day was a "mistake".

His report said: "Throughout the morning on the day after the launch, BBC news was running with a story that two or three senior BBC staff had known since the previous evening was wrong.

"It took too long for anyone to address this and to ask 'How did this happen in the first place?"'

The report stated: "It is worth emphasising that I do not believe that anyone consciously set out to defame or misrepresent the Queen in the tape which was prepared for the BBC1 season launch.

"Nor was there ever a possibility that the misleading sequence could have been included in the finished documentary to be broadcast by the BBC.

"That said, the incident reveals misjudgments, poor practice and ineffective systems as well, of course, as the usual helping of bad luck that often accompanies such sorry affairs."

Mr Fincham had previously refused all calls to resign in the days after the affair, saying: "If Mark Thompson wants me to resign I will, of course, do so.

"As a matter of fact, Mark Thompson has sent me a message of support in this, that he doesn't want me to resign."

Last month, Mr Fincham told industry executives he hoped to be still in his job by Christmas.

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