Documents are the lifeblood of historians, the tools with which we build our picture of the past. For most historians and biographers there is a surfeit of sources to draw from, ranging from documents in public archives and private collections to accounts in books and interviews.
For the royal historian, however, there is very little beyond often inaccurate press cuttings, and briefings by "sources" in royal circles.
This is because there remains a deference and culture of secrecy with regard to the royal family.
They are largely exempt from the Freedom of Information Act and the Royal Archives have no public inventory — rather like a restaurant with no menu. What papers are deposited in the National Archives are subject to a series of exemptions, and those who have worked with the family are almost inevitably subject to confidentiality contracts.
Writing about the royals operates on a lobby system with favoured journalists fed titbits, tame writers rewarded with positions on quangos and those who choose to operate outside the cosy arrangement marginalised.
We have the absurd situation of publicly or covertly authorised biographies of royal figures, of members of the royal family appearing on American chat shows talking openly about royal life, where Prince Harry can write about the most intimate aspects of royal life from a few months ago for commercial gain, and royal households constantly briefing against each other, yet historians cannot see files which are 100 years old.
This is the mark of a banana republic and not a mature democracy.
Related:
Prince Andrew: 2023-12-20 Over 170 of Jeffrey Epstein's high-profile associates will be NAMED in court documents set to be unsealed in the first days of 2024
Prince Andrew: 2023-10-16 Epstein Victim Who Testified Against Ghislaine Maxwell Mysteriously Dies
Prince Andrew: 2023-08-30 Continuation of Epstein's list
Prince Andrew: 2023-12-20 Over 170 of Jeffrey Epstein's high-profile associates will be NAMED in court documents set to be unsealed in the first days of 2024
Prince Andrew: 2023-10-16 Epstein Victim Who Testified Against Ghislaine Maxwell Mysteriously Dies
Prince Andrew: 2023-08-30 Continuation of Epstein's list