British Empire strikes back: Queen snubs Star Wars

The organisation which runs land belonging to the Queen has revealed it turned down a request from Star Wars producers to film at Windsor Great Park.

The Crown Estate said the location was unsuitable for the film and that it would not be influenced by "star names or star films".

Estate spokesman Nick Day said the site's priority was to protect the Berkshire park and that the area Star Wars was interested in was not suitable for large numbers of people.

Windsor Great Park covers nearly 5,000 acres

He said the risk for the park "was just too great", and even though the movie franchise was a "huge machine" with "massive outside interest", he added "it wasn't right here".

The 4,800 acre land, in Berkshire, which is owned by the Queen has previously been used in a number of films including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Bridget Jones's Baby and the newly-released Winnie-the-Pooh film, Goodbye Christopher Robin.

Windsor Great Park sits next to Windsor Castle

But it is not uncommon for film location requests to be rejected - eight out of 10 are turned down no matter how high profile the film is.

The Crown Estate belongs to the monarch and is owned by the Queen for the duration of her reign.

The Star Wars franchise requested permission to film in Windsor Great Park a few years ago, but it is not known which film the request was for.

(SKYNEWS)