Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain lobbied for a change in the financial transparency bill to hide her personal wealth. The monarch was accused of this by the newspaper The Guardian, citing documents from the National Archives that came into its possession.
According to the publication, in the 1970s, the Queen’s personal lawyer allegedly put pressure on ministers in order to amend the bill in such a way as not to publicize information about her stake. Ultimately, a provision was included in the law, according to which an exception is made for companies whose shares belong to the heads of state. The publication notes that as a result of the agreement, a shell company was formed, which was used to hide the Queen’s stake and investments until at least 2011.
Negotiations with the government were carried out within the framework of the “royal consent” procedure: according to it, the parliament must obtain the consent of the monarch to consider the bill in case it may affect the privileges and private interests of the royal family.
Buckingham Palace denied media reports of the Queen’s attempts to block the passage of the bill. “Royal assent is a parliamentary procedure in which the role of the sovereign is purely formal. The monarch always gives it if the cabinet asks for it. The assertion that the sovereign has blocked the passage of the law is simply not true, ” the BBC said in a statement.
