Queen demands to keep Palace secrets for 30 years

Buckingham Palace is pressing ministers to agree that records relating to the royal family should be excluded from plans to reform the 30-year rule.

An independent review by Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers Paul Dacre will today recommend that historic papers including Cabinet minutes should be routinely released after 15 years, half the current waiting time.

His proposals, although likely to be phased in over several years, will hasten the release of records of the Thatcher and Major years, including the Falklands war, the poll tax riots and the 1984 miners' strike.

A 15-year rule would mean papers up to 1994, including the Black Wednesday currency crisis in 1992 and the bitter Cabinet splits over Europe under Sir John Major, would be eligible for release.

Halving the embargo would mean Government records of major royal events could be published early - including 1992, which the Queen called her "annus horribilis" because so many unpleasant scandals broke.

It included the formal separation of Charles and Diana, the separation of the Duke and Duchess of York and the publication of Andrew Morton's revealing book Diana, Her True Story, all of which were debated by government. There was also the public revolt against taxpayers being landed with a £40 million bill for the Windsor Castle fire.

Under the full 30-year embargo, none of the records relating to these events will be released until 2022, which is how Buckingham Palace would prefer it to be left.

Government insiders say ministers are almost certain to agree to the Palace suggestion that royal matters should be treated differently because, unlike Cabinet members whose careers in the spotlight are brief, the royal family are permanent fixtures.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw will announce that the Government is willing in principle to accept the recommendations of Mr Dacre, who was commissioned by Gordon Brown in 2007, subject to a consultation and legislation being passed.

Other exemptions will also be considered, including keeping back details of contacts with foreign heads of state who remain in office. Commercially sensitive information also may be held back for the full 30 years if it would cause difficulties for firms.

There was no right of access at all to government records until the Public Records Act 1958 introduced a 50-year rule, reduced to 30 years in 1967.