Queen Nazi salute film: Ricky Gervais posts a picture of himself looking 'like a tiny Hitler' aged 7

It's disturbingly easy to look like a fascist dictator, the comedian seems to be saying

(REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon)

The comedian Ricky Gervais has posted a photo of himself, aged seven, looking "like a tiny Hitler" in response to footage of the Queen performing a Nazi salute.

The Extras and Office star sought to play down the pictures of the young Elizabeth - the film was made when the future monarch was also around seven - by describing them as "not news".

The implication being that it is disturbingly easy to inadvertently look like a fascist dictator.

If there is a likeness, it's probably in the eyes:

He also tweeted: "If the Queen does another Nazi Salute let me know about it. Until then...she was 7 and it didn't even have it's [sic] eventual context. Not news."

The 'Ricky Gervais defends the Queen' headlines were quick to follow, though Gervais was having none of it.

The photo would have been taken in around 1968, when the comic was a pupil at Whitley Park Infants and Junior School in Berkshire.