She has had Clint Eastwood tied up, Kate Winslet repeatedly dunked in a tank of water and Demi Moore naked and heavily pregnant but when it came to photographing the Queen, Annie Leibovitz went a step too far.

A behind-the-scenes BBC documentary captured the moment when the Queen fixed the celebrity photographer with an icy stare as she suggested she take off her crown.

In the footage, the Queen walks into a room in Buckingham Palace, cluttered with camera equipment, wearing her crown and her Order of the Garter robes.

Leibovitz, best known for her work for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair magazines, tells her: “I think it will look better without the crown because the garter robe is so...”

But before she can finish saying “extraordinary”, the Queen gives her an icy stare and replies: “Less dressy, what do you think this is?” - pointing to what she is wearing.

Television cameras follow the Queen storming off with an official lifting the large train of her blue velvet cape off the floor as she tells her lady-in-waiting: “I’m not changing anything. I’ve had enough dressing like this, thank you very much.”

Leibovitz eventually released four official portraits of the Queen.

A Year with the Queen was filmed as she prepared for her 80th birthday and her visit to the United States.

It captures the working life of the Royal Family, with snippets unveiled today showing the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and Princes William and Harry on duty.

The cameras were given unprecedented access to the Royal Family - and the Queen’s beloved corgis - at home and abroad for the documentary.

In other footage, President Bush tells the cameras on the Queen’s state visit: “This is a big deal. People are excited to have been invited to the White House to go to a state dinner with the Queen of England.

“It’s got this kind of ring to it.”

He says of the Queen: “She’s got a neat twinkle in her eye.”

Peter Fincham, the BBC One controller, said: “There are a lot of intimate moments and familiar moments. It gives access to the Queen that the TV audience has never had.”

He described the moment with Leibovitz as “a very memorable little sequence”.

In most of the footage, she is smiling, he said, adding: “I’m sure she will come over very well.”

Editor's choice

• U2 at Nou Camp Stadium, Barcelona
• The 50 Best Movie Villains
• The 15 golden rules of theatre etiquette