Fears Queen Elizabeth papers could be censored

Experts have expressed concerns that thousands of official documents about the late Queen and Prince Philip due to be made public over the next two years could be censored.

- ANDY GREGORY

Five years after their deaths, in 2026 and 2027 respectively, government documents involving communications with Queen Elizabeth II and her husband are due to be published.

The papers would offer previously unknown insights into the late monarch's thoughts around events of significance that transpired during her 70-year reign, during which time she engaged with 15 different UK prime ministers prior to her death in September 2022, at the age of 96.

Discussions are reportedly taking place in Whitehall about which aspects of the documents should be kept secret, with members of the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives expected to ask civil servants to brief them on how the tranche of files will be dealt with.

But with an already lengthy backlog of disputed cases involving royal documents, one former member of the council has warned that the system by which such papers are either released or censored must be overhauled.