Campaigners demand ‘full disclosure’ of gifts to King Charles and royals after four-year silence
Campaigners have called for “full disclosure” of gifts received by the royal family after it emerged King Charles has failed to publish an annual list for four years.
Unlike MPs, members of the royal family are not required to declare gifts, donations and hospitality on a public register of interests.
Nevertheless, they began publishing an annual list of official gifts received by the royal household following scrutiny of jewellery given to Queen Camilla by a Saudi royal in 2007.
However, it has emerged King Charles and his family have not shared such a list since 2020.
Recent delays in sharing details of presents received by royals have been attributed to a challenging few years for the family, including the pandemic, the change of reign and high-profile state occasions such as the coronation, The Independent understands.
Buckingham Palace has said the list will be published in due course.
Anti-monarchy campaign group Republic has hit out at the delays, insisting: “If we demand high standards from politicians, we must demand those same standards from the royals.”
The last annual list, detailing official gifts received by all working members of the royal family in 2019, was published in April 2020.
It included a 24 carat gold-plated horse comb from President Borut Pahor of the Republic of Slovenia and three gifts the late Queen Elizabeth II received from Donald Trump during his presidential visit. These were a custom hand-tooled leather chest made by artisans in Washington DC with 24k gold detail, a hand-crafted White House wooden jewellery box made using wood from a fallen Magnolia tree located on the White House Grounds, and a Tiffany & Co red poppy brooch.
Previous lists have also led to controversy after it emerged in 2012 that the king of Bahrain and his country’s prime minister had given a “suite of jewels” to raise Edward’s wife, Sophie, now the Duchess of Edinburgh, while facing criticism over human rights abuses.
Meanwhile, the Duchess of Sussex was gifted a pair of diamond chandelier earrings by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman as a wedding present in 2018.
In October that year Meghan wore them at a state banquet in Fiji only a few days after the crown prince was accused of ordering the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which he denies.
Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, 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. And we 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.
“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.”
“There’s usually a good reason why billionaires and Saudi businessmen give gifts: because something is expected in return. So we need full disclosure, not just of royal gifts but also royal lobbying.”
Under rules reviewed in 2003, gifts received during official duties such as state banquets or royal tours are classed as an official gifts. Those given by someone a royal knows in a personal capacity are considered private.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said: “The royal gifts lists will be published in due course.”