At least 11 bills governing the railways have been vetted by the Queen, sometimes relating to the land owned by the royal estates. She has also screened bills covering whole swathes of government policymaking. One of the richest families in Britain, with the monarch’s property investments exempt from inheritance tax and collections of fine art and jewellery built up over centuries, the Windsors are notoriously guarded about their finances. Some of the bills the Queen reviewed before they were passed by parliament relate to wealth or taxation. The database compiled by the Guardian reveals the vast swathe of draft UK law that ministers have decided to send to the palace for consideration. The royals describe the consent process as “a long-established convention that the Queen is asked by parliament to provide consent … for the debating of bills which would affect the prerogative or interests of the crown”.
When asked by the Guardian, the Queen’s representatives refused to say how many times she had requested alterations to legislation since she came to the throne in 1952.
The Guardian has uncovered evidence of lobbying for changes to at least four draft laws, but it is possible she interfered with many more. The database of 1,062 laws relates to legislation that the Queen vetted under consent rules, and it is not known on which occasions she also lobbied for changes to draft legislation. The Queen and Prince Charles both have the power to vet laws through the consent process.
The royal household claims consent has only ever been withheld on the advice of government ministers. If the Queen withholds consent, the bill cannot proceed and parliament is in effect banned from debating it. If the Queen grants her consent, parliament can debate the legislation and the process is formally signified in Hansard, the record of parliamentary debates. A copy of the bill is sent to the Queen's private lawyers, who have 14 days to consider it and to advise her. If parliamentary lawyers decide that a bill requires consent, a government minister writes to the Queen formally requesting her permission for parliament to debate it. Buckingham Palace says the procedure also covers assets that the monarch owns privately, such as the estates of Sandringham and Balmoral. Unlike royal assent, which is a formality that takes place at the end of the process of drafting a bill, Queen's consent takes place before parliament is permitted to debate the legislation.Ĭonsent has to be sought for any legislation affecting either the royal prerogative – fundamental powers of state, such as the ability to declare war – or the assets of the crown, such as the royal palaces. Queen's consent is a little-known procedure whereby the government asks the monarch's permission for parliament to be able to debate laws that affect her.
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