The Attorney General’s attempts to block the release of letters written by Britain’s Prince Charles to government ministers have today (12.03.14) been ruled "unlawful".
Dominic Grieve imposed a veto in 2012 to prevent letters written by the Prince of Wales, to members of the government between 2004 and 2005, from being released after the Upper Tribunal had already ruled that the public were entitled to see the communications under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
However, Journalist Rob Evans challenged the decision and the Court of Appeal have now ruled that the certificate be quashed, because Mr Grieve had "no good reason" for overriding the original decision.
Responding to the verdict, a spokesman for Mr Grieve said: "We are very disappointed by the decision of the court.
"We will be pursuing an appeal to the Supreme Court in order to protect the important principles which are at stake in this case."
The 57-year-old politician has argued that releasing the letters would undermine the principle of the heir to the thrown remaining politically neutral and said the correspondence between Prince Charles and the ministers were part of his "preparation for becoming king".
Mr Evans – who is a journalist for the Guardian newspaper – claims he is fighting to shed more light on the way in which Queen Elizabeth’s eldest son "seeks to influence government ministers even though he holds no elected position".
Blocking of Prince Charles’ letters ‘unlawful’
