Dr Robin Callender Smith, Honorary Professor of Media Law, published a blog for Inforrm where he discusses whether the Queen, as reigning monarch, can be asked or required to give evidence in her own courts.
He writes: “The last time an English sovereign appeared in court was Charles I in 1649, with terminal consequences. The FOIA decision by the Information Commissioner requires the CPS to reveal the legal advice it received about what it can and cannot compel the Sovereign to do in terms of calling her as a witness in court proceedings. It was triggered by a FOIA request which I made. I am a former FOIA and Data Protection Appeals Judge and royal privacy specialist.”
Read the blog.