Royal family criticised for not declaring gifts for past four years

The Observer reported King Charles and his family have failed to reveal official gifts since 2019 despite previously promising to publish an annual list.

Palace officials have blamed the pandemic, the change of reign, and then planning for last year’s coronation for their inability to publish details of the gifts received by members of the royal family.

Unlike MPs, who have to register gifts, donations and hospitality, there is no public register of interests for members of the royal family. Instead, they act on the advice of their private secretaries in deciding what to declare.

Graham Smith, CEO of anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, said it is “vital” the public knows about “attempts to curry favour with the royals”.

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He said: "If politicians are being lambasted for failing to declare gifts, the same should apply to the royals.

"It is vital that the public knows about any possible conflicts of interest or attempts to curry favour with royals, as they have direct access to the highest levels of government.

“We [also] need to know if official gifts are being handed over to the state or surreptitiously kept for personal use.

"Charles and senior royals have access to government papers, can have secretive meetings with ministers and the prime minister and they have leverage to pressure government to do favours for them and their friends. So it’s vital we know what gifts they’re receiving.

"If we demand high standards from politicians, we must demand those same standards from the royals."

Labour Government have been caught up in controversy over accepting gifts " style="width: 100%;"> Keir Starmer and his Labour Government have been caught up in controversy over accepting gifts (Image: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA Wire) The royal family’s reticence to publish official gifts comes after controversy over a cash-for-honours scandal involving the King’s main charitable foundation, which led to a police investigation that was dropped last year.

The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation in February 2022  following a series of newspaper articles accusing former close confidant to the King, Michael Fawcett, of promising to help a Saudi billionaire donor achieve British citizenship and a knighthood.

Fawcett resigned as chief executive of The Prince’s Foundation in the wake of the allegations.

It also comes after revelations Charles accepted £2.6 million in cash in bags from a Qatari politician while he was Prince of Wales for another of his charities, the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund.

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Prince Andrew also faced allegations that when he was a working royal he used official overseas trips to conduct private business deals.

Annual gift lists were introduced after media criticism of attempts by the royal household to conceal the origin of jewellery given to Queen Camilla by a Saudi royal in 2006.

The last annual list, detailing official gifts received by all working members of the royal family in 2019, was published in April 2020 but since then there has been nothing, apart from the occasional description of an exchange of presents during a state visit or pictures when they are given gifts during an engagement.

Prince William and Kate Middleton chose not to release a list of any gifts they had received at their wedding in 2011.

Only a handful of official gifts received by Queen Elizabeth for her Platinum Jubilee in 2022 were disclosed and it is not clear if any were given to King Charles and Queen Camilla to mark their coronation.

Back in 1947, when the then Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip, an exhaustive list of gifts to the couple was published and more than 2500 items went on show to the public.

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said: “The royal gifts lists will be published in due course.”