This month, the campaign group Republic launched the latest of their movements against the British Monarchy, in which they demanded that the Royal Archives be made available to the public and submitted to the National Archives. Led by Robespierre-wannabe Graeme Smith, the CEO of Republic, they have initiated a crowdfunding project to help raise funds necessary to bring the matter to court.
The Royal Archives is a collection of documents, correspondences, diaries, addresses, and records relating specifically to the British monarch and the Royal Family, and are traditionally kept locked away within the Round Tower of Windsor Castle. The Archive’s records start with George III 250 years ago although the Archive itself wasn’t created until 1914 by King George V, and have continued to be maintained on behalf of the Royal Family by the Keeper of the Royal Archives. Before then, royal documents and the like were haphazardly kept in disorganised collections of tin boxes and paper bundles, necessitating the need for more careful preservation.
Since then the Archive has been quietly expanding, collecting the private correspondences of every monarch since.
The Royal Archives are a private collection and are typically not allowed to be viewed by just anyone. Exceptions are made for genuine academics and researchers, who can contact the Archives for assistance and access to the relevant documents. Further, select collections such as letters by Queen Victoria and documents from the reign of King George III have been made available online, and the Round Tower has been renovated to allow greater academic access.
Republic intends to have the entire collection released to the National Archives and made accessible to the nation as a whole. Claiming that the Royal Archives are even more secretive than MI5, Smith states that the British public “have the right to know” the personal correspondences of the Head of State and “their past”. Doing so would also allow them to better judge the monarchy as an institution.
“This secrecy means the official record of Britain’s head of state – evidence of exactly what’s been going on behind closed doors for decades – is kept a closely guarded secret,” Smith says on the Republic website, “These are documents relating to the history and the job of our head of state […] that are completely hidden away.
“The British people have a right to know their past, they have a right to properly judge this institution and the people that serve in it and you can only really do that with full access to all the official records.”
Exactly what Republic expects to find is anyone’s guess — their website gleefully insinuates that they probably expect evidence of everything from Nazi connections to secret human sacrifices in Balmoral.
A Palace spokesperson was quick to point out that there was a vast difference between the Queen’s private and public correspondences. “There is an important distinction here. Papers concerning Her Majesty’s State business are held by the National Archives at Kew and are covered by well-established access provisions,” they said.
“The Royal Archives are the private archive of The Queen, the Royal Family and departments of the Royal Household.”
The Royal Archives are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and its sister Act in Scotland, as the Royal Household is not defined as a public body by it. Further, the documents held by the Archives are not considered to be public records, but private documents held by private individuals and therefore protected by the Royal Family’s right to privacy.
Even if the Archives were to be made public, there are doubts that we’d even see any of The Queen’s private letters anyway. According to Hugo Vickers, a prominent author on the Royal Family, if there were any danger of correspondences between the Royal Family and British civil servants being made public, they simply wouldn’t be placed in the Royal Archive. They’d most likely be destroyed instead.
What a cheek . This is ludicrous of the Republic. How would they like it if MI5 took all demanded they turn over all of their personal letters. !! Leave our Monarchy alone they are better than you are !!
what a sad statement – they are better than you are. They have never had to achieve anything, all handed on plate out of public funds
The ‘sad’ thing here is your effort in deriding the Royal family by even attempting humour(?) with your ” name”. No one will ever convince you of anything you do not appreciate or understand, as to the worth of our Royal family, so all your sarcastic remarks are really designed to try and make your miserable self worthwhile.
how would they like the public to insist on copies of all their private correspondance
if it is to do with affairs of state or usage of public housing or property then every right….plus it would be nice to see all those letters her family wrote to Hitler before the war, when they thought he was quite a nice chappie!
Please do not confuse the wayward and briefly King Edward VIII and his questionable wife, American wife, Wallis Warfield Simpson, with the rest of the Royal family!! Rather, remember that George VI and Queen Mary stayed in London throughout the war even as Buckingham Palace was bombed along with half or more of the rest of London. AND please recall that fewer royals than ever receive anything from the government, Charles plans to reduce the number further when he ascends the throne, ALSO, the lifestyles of the closest members of tha family do not have all their expenses paid for by the public. Besides, the U.K. could never begin to afford to pay a decent wage for what the royals do to wave the flag and boost the collective morale of the public. You should pay for the governmental personnel in the USA, you’d certainly squeal then!,
What right has this ‘group’ to demand anything of the Queen, or Royal Family? Who is this self- appointed ‘head honcho’ who has the audacity to make these demands? I sincerely hope the Government steps in on the Sovereign’s behalf to refuse any such request. The reasons given for this intrusion are ludicrous, and bear no logical or necessary reason to make this request.
I totally agree. They are a small group of people with small minds.
assume you mean the royal family with thier extremely limited intellect (implying a small mind just in case you didn’t get it!!)
Your reply is as crass as your other statements. You would obviously be more comfortable in Trump’s America – would happily contribute to your ticket
Drop dead
The United States of America is no one person’s but belongs to all of its citizens. Hon Donald J Trump is the elected President of the United States making him head of state and head of government.
Every right – this woman (a child if immigrants form Europe) and her benefit scrounging extended family are paid for through our taxes, she holds a public office and should be accountable to her paymasters – the British public
Pardon me. Aren’t they citizens of the United Kingdom, “subjects” of her monarch? Doesn’t that give them status to at least inquire. Still a democracy, right?
should do who elected these people ?
“Robespierre wanna be”? Reportage? These folks should simply wait. Few would be sympathetic to any such requests during the reign of the present beloved monarch. Give her SJW scion a few years at the helm of the royal bark and folks will be barking to examine the closets and bottom drawers of every room and chest in Windsor’s extended adult nursery. William will be forced to hire his attractive Duchess out for modeling jobs. Harry will be forced to do cheesecake.
The archive couldn’t have been set up by Edward VII in 1912 as he died in 1910. Or maybe that’s something else the royals don’t want us to know!
Thank you for catching that mistake! I assure you that it’s a writer’s error rather than evidence of zombie royals (I would hope).