Just how much should we know about the royal family? Though Prince Harry’s new book Spare professes outrage at palace leaks, “The Firm” is notoriously guarded on private matters - officially, at least. So how have attempts to open up its records fared?
The rules governing access to historical papers about the British royal family are almost as confusing as the institution itself. Ironically, given his resentment at the prying eyes of the press, Harry’s memoir has reopened the debate about what we have a reasonable right to know about his family. And historians need to make their voices heard in that discussion.
Long viewed as rather marginal to modern British political history, the monarchy has been treated more seriously in recent decades, with scholars taking a greater interest in the symbolic and performative aspects of state power. At the same time, most historians recognise
