The Royal Family’s Darkest Secret: Why They Are Above The Law

Why can't Britain investigate its own monarchy? Andrew Lownie has spent a decade trying to find out, and what he has uncovered explains why so much stays hidden.

Lownie sets out the position of the royal family as he sees it: exempt from freedom of information laws, beyond parliamentary scrutiny, with opaque finances, sealed wills and no register of their business activities. He argues that a culture of deference and secrecy has left the institution exposed to foreign intelligence services and shielded from the questions any other powerful body would face.

In this conversation, Lownie explains why he believes the monarchy has lost its moral authority, why the police and the establishment may let the story go quiet, why he does not trust the line that no one is above the law, and how he thinks Parliament and public pressure could close the royal exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act. These are his views and his claims.