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It’s a revelation that’s thrown the British royal family into the spotlight once again for all the wrong reasons: huge riches kept hidden from prying eyes by the Queen herself.
It’s an allegation made by the Guardian that says it has evidence of how the British monarch lobbied ministers to keep the true figure of her private wealth a well-guarded secret. The daily has based its claim on evidence provided in yet to be published government memos, found in the country’s National Archives, dating back to 1973.
A draft law at the time would have forced the Queen to reveal her private holdings in companies. So she sent in her lawyers to make sure the legislation would enable her to sidestep the new transparency regulations, claiming a disclosure would be embarrassing.
Since the 1970s, the British monarch has influenced legislation by means of what is known as the Queen’s consent, a mysterious, opaque parliamentary procedure that requires ministers to alert her when legislation might affect either her royal prerogative or the private interests of the crown.
Buckingham Palace has denied the allegation saying "Queen's consent is a parliamentary process, with the role of sovereign purely formal. Consent is always granted by the monarch where requested by government. Any assertion that the sovereign has blocked legislation is simply incorrect.’’
But a copy of the proposal by Geoffrey Howe, Conservative Trade Secretary in the 1970s, tells otherwise. With the Bank of England, Howe’s department came up with a proposal to insert a new clause into the draft law benefiting a variety of wealthy investors. But in actual fact, the intended beneficiary of that new clause was the Queen. So what will happen now?
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