Did you know that some laws simply don’t apply to the Royal Family in Great Britain. Yes you heard that right, laws and rules aren’t created equal and the monarchy is most definitely exempted from a good number of them.
What are these royal perks and exemptions?
For one thing, there is sovereign immunity which means King Charles and before him Queen Elizabeth cannot be prosecuted under a civil or criminal investigation.
For most of us speeding tickets are a pain but quite literally it will never be a royal pain for the monarchy. Why? Because speeding laws don’t apply to the royal family and this includes the prime minister. When the royal family are driven around on royal business they can go as fast or as slow as they like, speed limits don’t apply under the Road Traffic Regulation Act.
In addition since every passport in the United Kingdom bears the Queen’s stamp, the Queen and consequently King Charles do not need a passport to travel. However this exemption only applies to King Charles and not the rest of the royal family.
Interestingly Queen Elizabeth never took an actual driving test despite having trained as a driver and mechanic for the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II. Similarly because all driver’s licenses are issued in her name she needn’t have one and the same applies to King Charles as the new King.
The monarch also has automatic legal custody of all their descendants and grandchildren and need never go to court to apply for such. This archaic rule is actually 300 years old and is unlikely to be enforced by King Charles.
Members of the royal family also enjoy tax exemptions although the Queen and the Prince of Wales do voluntarily make income tax payments on certain properties and estates.
They are also never required to do jury duty and are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. The royal family website states that the royal household is not a public authority and therefore exempt from their provisions. This gives the royal family a lot of privacy where finances are concerned.
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