The extraordinary privileges of the Windsor family are to be extended by their exemption from the Freedom of Information Act.
All documents related to hereditary head of state Windsor and her son, including emails and letters, will be kept secret even if disclosure can be shown to be in the public interest. This will seriously set back efforts to increase the accountability of the feudal family.
The changes announced on 7 January seem to follow lobbying by the Windsors. Mr. Windsor, who is entitled to become head of state when his mother dies, was already planning legal action to stop the disclosure of letters he has written to government ministers in efforts to have them follow his policies. The government was supporting him in this.
The change to the law will set back the exposure of how the Windsors’ use of taxpayers’ money, as well as their attempts to have their own beliefs implemented as government policy.
The Windsors claim that the secrecy is necessary to protect the feudal privilege of being consulted by the government and, in the words of a Windsor spokesperson, “to encourage and warn the government”.