Sarah Palin is the subject of a new, not entirely flattering, new film

Did one-time US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin not know the United Kingdom was a democracy?

With the 2012 US presidential election already well underway, American cable channel HBO is preparing to screen a dramatisation detailing Palin's unsuccessful attempt to make it to the White House, alongside Republican candidate John MacCain in 2008.

Reports suggest the programme is far from flattering of the former Alaska governor, who was widely mocked by opponents for her apparent lack of foreign policy expertise.

The film, 'Game Change', is based on a 2010 book by the same name authored by well know American political journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin and stars Julianne Moore as Palin.

But according to the LA Times one scene recounts a moment not in the book, which reveals Palin's ignorance of who set the foreign and defence policy of one of the US' closest allies.

Quizzed by McCain's chief strategist Steve Schmidt on how she would react if Britain decided to withdraw its troops and support for operations in Iraq, Palin responded that she would "continue to have an open dialogue" with the Queen of England. When informed Queen Elizabeth II does not run Britain, Palin asks who does.

Schmidt has to tell her that the elected prime minister, then Gordon Brown, would be the one she would have to speak to about the UK's involvement in Iraq.

In an interview with the LA Times the real life Schmidt confirms the incident took place.

"Ten weeks of the campaign are condensed into a two-hour movie. But it tells the truth of the campaign. That is the story of what happened," he says of the film overall.

Palin has already dismissed the film, telling Fox News that it would be a waste of time for people to watch it.

"I'm really not concerned about an HBO movie based on a false narrative," she said.