Passport to Pimlico (1949) | Pimlico

Ealing Studios classic starring Stanley Holloway and Margaret Rutherford, based on the real life incident during World War Two when the maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital was temporarily declared extraterritorial by the Canadian government so that, when Princess Margriet of the Netherlands was born there, she wouldn’t lose her claim to the throne.

When an unexploded bomb goes off, it reveals a buried cellar containing treasure and a document proving Edward IV ceded the site to Charles VII (“the Rash”), the last Duke of Burgundy: making Pimlico an independent state. The government tries to starve the Burgundians into submission but to no end. Eventually a compromise is found: Pimlico loans its treasure to Britain, bankrupted by borrowing from America to get through the Second World War. Hurrah, the people have bailed out the state and to let them know they’re back in dear old Blighty it pours down with rain!