Shortly after Gertrude and Henry first meet, a bit of dialogue is repeated twice in slightly different forms, as if the director were experimenting with the scene but accidentally left both versions in. First, when the group moves inside to the billiard table, Gertrude can faintly be heard saying "Really? Under the stars?" with Henry replying, "I'll have to put up the mosquito netting." Then when they walk further through the embassy, the fuller conversation becomes clear, as Henry advises Gertrude to move her bed onto the roof, she responds with "I do love the stars at night," and Henry returns to his line about the mosquito netting.
Gertrude Bell and Winston Churchill 's wife Clementine were cousins on her father's side i.e. via his sister. In spite of the first scene where Churchill asks "Who is this Gertrude Bell?", in real-life he was very much aware of who she was.
One character says "I thought the Victoria Cross was only for fallen heroes?", to which another replies "That's right". That's in fact wrong - it is a British medal for extreme heroism in wartime, but not just those who died fighting.
While Bell and Cadogan are walking through Tehran Bazar it shows vendors are wearing Arab head cover (keffiyeh), however Persian people have their own traditional hat/Bennie.
The film opens in 1914 and places Gertrude's travel to Tehran 12 years earlier, which would be 1902. Yet in real life this happened in 1892, or 22 years prior to the film's opening. Taking the earlier date as the setting makes sense of a comment made during the embassy party when her uncle introduces Gertrude. A guest toasts to Queen Victoria and suggests she should visit, yet Victoria died in 1901.
Gertrude became Oriental Secretary in 1917, not 1915 as shown here.
When the Druze horsemen surround Gertrude and her party several of the men are brandishing No.4 Lee-Enfield rifles. These did not exist until World War II, decades after the film's events. Many of the rifles are also clearly rubber replicas; the barrels, sights, and actions lack detail and some are bent or deformed.
The opening scene purports to show a meeting of the Arab Bureau in Cairo during 1914, with Winston Churchill being prominent, apparently acting as Secretary of State for the Colonies. In 1914, however, Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty; he would be appointed Colonial Secretary in 1921.
At 1:36:00, the Bedouin Sheik holds and offers the lamb's head with his left hand. This is contrary to all etiquette, as the right hand is used for eating while the left one is, shall we say, the wiping hand.
Henry Cadogan did die, of pneumonia after falling in the water, in 1892. The Henry Cadogan who died in 1908 was a different person.