The Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom (UK) has been accused of concealing information about the royal family after documents, including some relating to the travel expenses of the former Duke of York as a UK trade envoy, were withdrawn at the last moment.
Contents of the documents and withdrawal of the minutes
Documents released to the National Archives also include files related to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and an apology from the office of John Major after the official birthday telegram for the Queen Mother was “incorrectly addressed”.
However, documents that had been made available to the media in advance under embargo also included minutes from the Prime Minister’s Office (No 10) from 2004 and 2005 concerning royal visits. These minutes were subsequently withdrawn, with the Cabinet Office attributing the matter to an “administrative error”, stating that they had never been intended for publication.
The minutes, which journalists saw before they were withdrawn, appear unremarkable and include a note that a change in the rules could mean that the costs of Prince Andrew at the time, as a UK trade envoy, would be paid by the Royal Travel Office – rather than by the then Department of Trade and Industry – thereby adding 90.000 pounds to the budget. The visits discussed were to China, Russia, Southeast Asia, and Spain.
The withholding of the minutes highlights the way in which documents relating to the royal family are routinely removed from public access under the Public Records Act.
Criticism from anti-monarchy organizations
Graham Smith, executive director of the anti-monarchy campaign Republic, said that the royal family should not have any exemption. “The most likely reason for this attempt to prevent publication is pressure from the palace. The royal family wants everything to remain hidden when it comes to Andrew, not to protect him, but to protect themselves,” Smith said.
Documents on Diana’s death
Some of the documents relating to Diana’s death and the funeral arrangements were already released in 2005 under the Freedom of Information Act, and include a vivid account of events from the British ambassador to France, Michael Jay.
However, the documents reveal that Downing Street in 2005 refused to release details of conversations between Tony Blair and the French president Jacques Chirac following the Paris crash, claiming that such conversations were “confidential” and “fundamentally not in the public interest”.
Incorrectly addressed birthday telegram to the Queen Mother
It took several hours for Chirac’s aides to contact him to inform him of the accident, which sparked intense speculation about his whereabouts. His chauffeur later claimed that he had been with a lover.
Meanwhile, No 10 was forced to issue an apology after the Queen Mother’s private secretary, Captain Sir Alastair Aird, telephoned No 10 complaining that John Major’s 1994 birthday telegram had been “incorrectly addressed”. Roderic Lyne from No 10’s private office responded with an apology, but insisted that Downing Street staff were not to blame.
“The message itself, as it left our hands, was entirely correct. However, in its transmission, it appears that British Telecom unfortunately addressed the telegram in the manner you describe,” Lyne wrote.
“I am sorry that this happened. Our staff are scrupulous about proper form, as you can imagine. Perhaps the solution would be to abandon telegrams altogether, which are in any case going out of fashion.”
The telegram sent by the Queen Mother to herself shows that she remained calm and sent Major and his wife Norma her “warm thanks” for their “kind message of good wishes”.
