A High Court judge in September 2021 ruled the will should remain sealed for 90 years, to protect the privacy of his widow, Queen Elizabeth II, and other royals.
FILE: Britain’s Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh waves as he takes part in the transfer of the Colonel-in-Chief of The Rifles at Windsor castle in Windsor on 22 July 2020. Picture: Adrian DENNIS/POOL/AFP
LONDON – British newspaper The Guardian on Monday said it had been given permission to challenge a decision banning the media from a court case about Prince Philip’s will.
A High Court judge in September 2021 ruled the will should remain sealed for 90 years, to protect the privacy of his widow, Queen Elizabeth II, and other royals.
The hearing was held in private and media organisations were not allowed to attend.
The Guardian said a Court of Appeal judge had allowed it to take legal action against the attorney general, who is the government’s chief law officer, and the Queen’s private lawyers.
Judge Eleanor King said there was “a real prospect” the newspaper would succeed in arguing the original judge had “erred in law” by preventing the media from attending, it added.
The left-leaning daily said its challenge would “focus attention on the secrecy that surrounds an obscure exemption that has been granted to the royal family” over wills.
Unlike those of ordinary members of the public, wills of the Windsor family are kept secret after their deaths.
More than 30 members of the royal family have successfully applied at private court hearings to keep their wills secret since 1910, the newspaper said.
Prince Philip, who was also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, died in April last year, just weeks short of his 100th birthday, after more than a month in hospital.
He and the Queen were married for 73 years.
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