Campaign launched to have secret royal documents hidden for 250 years released to public

SECRET royal documents dating back 250 years could be made public after an anti-monarchy group began a campaign to have them released.

Minutes from meetings between kings and queens and world leaders and civil servants, plus letters and diaries could be laid bare.

Republic is set use crowdfunding for its bid to lobby MPs and look for legal loopholes to get them made public.

The Royal Archives are stored in the Round Tower at Windsor Castle.

They are exempt from Freedom of Information requests.

Only approved researchers or academics can gain access to them.

Republic wants the documents transferred to the National Archives at Kew, south west London

Other non-royal historical papers are kept there have a 30 year delay but experts can still decide if documents are private or not.

Republic CEO Graham Smith said: "These are documents relating to the history and the job of our head of state, there's going to be all sorts of minutes and documentation and reports and discussions between civil servants, world leaders, those sort of things, that are completely hidden away.

"The British people have a right to know their past, they have a right to properly judge this institution and the people that serve in it and you can only really do that with full access to all the official records."

Documents including King George III's private papers and Queen Victoria's journals have been made public.

Mr Smith added: "Every year MI5 releases archives that do not have a security implication, do not embarrass living individuals, that do not invade privacy.

"This is one of the ironies, the fact that MI5 is considerably more accessible historically than the Royal Family. 

"It seems to me that those are the principles that you could very easily apply to the royal archive and say everything else needs to be released."

But royal author Hugo Vickers said: "It's much better that these papers should be kept for eventual use.

“If they were subjected to rules whereby things had to be opened, quite frankly they wouldn't be put into the royal archives and they'd probably disappear.

"Nobody in public life likes to write even an email these days because it can be subject to the Freedom of Information Act."

A Royal Spokesperson said: "The Royal Archives are the  Queen's private archive. Her Majesty's official papers on State business, as with those of The Queen's immediate predecessors,  are stored at the National Archives at Kew and covered by well-established access provisions.
"Her Majesty is fully supportive of initiatives underway to make the historic documents in the Royal Archives more accessible through digital technology,  such as Queen Victoria's journals and the extensive Georgian Papers project.

"Facilities at Windsor Castle's Round Tower have been greatly improved to give much wider access to legitimate academic research. A well-defined and transparent provision for access to the Royal Archives  is easily found on our website. ."