The Royal Family Might Be in Hot Water for Not Disclosing 'Lavish' Gifts Since Queen Elizabeth's Death
The royal family is finding themselves in hot water after letting a major protocol slip — and it’s feeding the anti-monarchy movement. King Charles, along with Queen Camilla, Kate Middleton, and Prince William have failed to disclose the official gifts they have received over the last four years, per The Guardian.
The palace response has been to blame “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,” according to the U.K. outlet. The royal family’s gift policy set strict guidelines in 1995 to make clear distinctions between personal and official gifts.
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The official gifts are often given by heads of state, which can be a controversial move in itself. They “cannot be sold or traded,” and they become “automatically become part of the royal collection.” While there is no official database, it’s curious that once an updated public list becomes available, the old one from the year prior disappears — the palace does not maintain a public archive for the press.
Understandably, this rather vague policy has only fueled Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, the strongest anti-monarchy group in the U.K. “It is vital that the public knows about any possible conflicts of interest or attempts to curry favor with royals, as they have direct access to the highest levels of government,” he told The Guardian. “The royals have form when it comes to blurring the lines between what’s theirs to keep and what’s an official gift. So full disclosure is needed on what’s been received and where those gifts are now. If we demand high standards from politicians, we must demand those same standards from the royals.”
The palace seemed rather nonchalant about the entire controversy, telling the media outlet, “The royal gifts lists will be published in due course.” But King Charles was entangled in a sticky situation not that long ago. He was given a total of $3.2 million by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar, during private meetings that occurred between 2011 and 2015, per CBS News in June 2022. The bags of cash were reportedly cash donations for the then-Prince of Wales’ charities, but the act of accepting cash seemed shady.
Clarence House claimed in a statement that the donations “were passed immediately to one of the prince’s charities who carried out the appropriate governance and have assured us that all the correct processes were followed,” but Charles’ reputation took a hit. Now that he’s the King, it doesn’t seem surprising that four years have slipped by, and no official gift list has been published.
Still, the U.K. media isn’t letting go of this issue, and the royal family needs to button up their protocols quickly.
Before you go, click to see all the biggest royal scandals in the past 50 years.
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