THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
Introducing the Freedom of Information Acts
FOI status of the Royal Household
FOI status of personal information on The Queen and the Royal Family
FOI status of personal information on recently deceased members of the Royal Family
Information held by public authorities relating to The Queen and members of the Royal Family
Length of exemption
Information held by bodies subject to the Public Records Act
Information held by the Royal Archives
Contact information
Making a complaint
Further advice
Introducing the Freedom of Information Acts
On 1 January 2005, the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 and the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 came into force. As from that date, any person of any nationality can make a request to see information held by public bodies, except where special exemptions apply.
FOI status of the Royal Household
The Royal Household is not a public authority within the meaning of the FOI Acts, and is therefore exempt from their provisions.
It is a fundamental constitutional principle that communications between The Queen and her Ministers and other public bodies should remain confidential, and that the political neutrality of The Queen and the Royal Family, and the Royal Household acting on their behalf, should be maintained.
Despite its exemption from the FOI Acts, the Royal Household’s policy is to provide information as freely as possible in other areas, and to account openly for all its use of public money. For example, full details of public funding of the Head of State have been provided since 2001; a consolidated annual report incorporating the Civil List and the Grants-in-Aid for Royal travel, maintenance of the occupied Royal palaces and communications is posted online in June of each year.
FOI status of personal information on The Queen and the Royal Family
Like everyone else, The Queen and members of the Royal Family are entitled to private lives; FOI exemptions relating to the private aspects of people’s lives therefore also apply to The Queen and members of the Royal Family as well.
Information relating to the personal affairs of the Sovereign and of members of the Royal Family – for example, their private finances and activities in their personal and private capacity – may be exempt under section 40 of the UK FOI Act and section 38 of the Scottish FOI Act (personal information). This means that questions requiring disclosure of this kind of information will be governed by the Data Protection Act (relating to personal information concerning living members of the Royal Family).
It may also be exempt under Article 8 ‘Private Life and Family’ of the Human Rights Act 1998.
FOI status of personal information on recently deceased members of the Royal Family
If such information relates to communications with The Queen, other members of the Royal Family or with the Royal Household, and if it is contained in records less than 30 years old, the information may be exempt under section 37 of the UK FOI Act (section 41 of the Scottish FOI Act).
Information relating to recently deceased members of the Royal Family, whose release would damage the right to family life of the relatives of the deceased, may also be exempt under section 44 of the UK FOI Act and section 26 of the Scottish FOI Act, and also Article 8 ‘Private Life and Family’ of the Human Rights Act 1998.
Information held by public authorities relating to The Queen and members of the Royal Family
Many public authorities will hold information relating to members of the Royal Family’s or Royal Household’s activities and functions. The specific Royal Household exemption is not concerned with all information relating to The Queen, other members of the Royal Family, or the Royal Household; it is concerned more narrowly with information relating to communications with The Queen, other members of the Royal Family or the Royal Household.
Section 37 and section 41 of the two FOI Acts provide an exemption for communications with The Queen, other members of the Royal Family (see list below) or Royal Household, for information that is less than 30 years old.
List of members of the Royal Family (since 1 January 1975):
The Queen
The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
The Prince of Wales
The Princess of Wales, later Diana, Princess of Wales
The Duchess of Cornwall
Prince William of Wales
Prince Henry of Wales
The Prince Andrew, later The Duke of York
The Duchess of York
Princess Beatrice of York
Princess Eugenie of York
The Prince Edward, later The Earl of Wessex
The Countess of Wessex
The Lady Louise Windsor
The Princess Anne, Mrs Mark Phillips, later The Princess Royal
Captain Mark Phillips
Rear-Admiral Timothy Laurence
The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
The Earl of Snowdon
Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester
The Duke of Gloucester
The Duchess of Gloucester
The Duke of Kent
The Duchess of Kent
Prince Michael of Kent
Princess Michael of Kent
Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy
The Rt Hon. Sir Angus Ogilvy
Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone
Information held by public authorities relating to The Queen, other members of the Royal Family or the Royal Household may cover a wide range of subjects. Such information is not necessarily exempt under section 37/section 41; however, other exemptions may also be applicable.
Each information request will be subject to case-by-case consideration. Some exemptions are absolute. However, as with non-Royal records, other exemptions will need to be assessed against a public interest test, i.e. whether or not the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.
It is particularly worth recognising, when applying the public interest test, that information which interests the public may not be the same as that which would be disclosed in the public interest.
FOI-related applications should be made direct to the public body holding the information concerned.
Length of exemption
Individual exemptions have their own date of expiry. In many cases the sensitivity of information will diminish over time.
However, in the case of Royal information it is unlikely that the sensitivity of much of the information covered by this exemption will diminish with time. The Sovereign remains in office for life. It will remain a matter of constitutional sensitivity that the Queen expressed particular views on a policy or a personality long after the policy has been implemented (and may even have been superseded), or the officeholder has ceased to hold the relevant office. The Queen is in a unique position in that it is particularly difficult to disentangle her public and private personae. Unlike, for example, politicians, her duties are determined by birth, not choice, and she therefore has no option but to accept the resulting media interest.
In order for all members of the Royal Family to carry out their public duties, their neutrality must also be maintained.
Information held by bodies subject to the Public Records Act
Papers that originate in the Royal Household but are held by bodies subject to the Public Records Act, for example The National Archives, are public records.
FOI-related applications should be made direct to the public body holding the information concerned.
Information held by the Royal Archives
Since the Royal Household is not a public authority, as defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Act does not relate to access to the Royal Archives. Papers in the Royal Archives are not public records, as defined by the Public Records Act 1958. Nevertheless, regarding the papers it holds on government business, it is the policy of the Royal Archives to follow voluntarily the regulations on closure and release to which counterpart papers in The National Archives are subject.
Contact information
The Royal Household is committed to transparency, and to making information available, where appropriate. Any enquiries should be directed in writing as follows:
Postal address for The Queen, members of the Royal Family and Royal Household Departments:
Buckingham Palace
London SW1A 1AA.
Postal address for The Prince of Wales’s Household Office:
Clarence House
St James’s Palace
London SW1A 1BA.
Postal address for information relating to any Royal Collection works of art or paintings:
The Royal Collection
Stable Yard House
St James’s Palace
London SW1A 1BA.
Postal address for information relating to the Royal Archives:
Senior Archivist
The Royal Archives
Round Tower
Windsor Castle
Windsor
Berkshire SL4 1NJ.
Making a complaint
If you are dissatisfied with the response to your request for access to information, please write to:
The Director of Records
Buckingham Palace
London SW1A 1AA.
Further advice
Further information on Freedom of Information, and the Royal Household’s Freedom of Information status, is available from the following web sites:
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Overview of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 from the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
The Information Commissioner
The authority responsible for administering and enforcing the Act, including approval of publication schemes.
Exemptions relating to communications with The Queen and other members of the Royal Household (Section 37 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
Guidance on Royal exemption, issued by the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
Information relating to the Royal Household and Honours
Guidance on information relating to the status of information relating to the Royal Household and Honours, issued by the Information Commissioner.
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Full text of the legislation relating to Freedom of Information in Scotland.
The Scottish Executive’s Freedom of Information Unit
Information on, and interpretation of, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Scottish Information Commissioner
The authority in Scotland responsible for the promotion and enforcement of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
This page will be updated with guidance on the FOI status of the Royal Household in Scotland, as soon it becomes available from the Scottish Executive and Scottish Information Commissioner.
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