THE Queen is granted personalised exemptions from over 160 UK laws, with 34 of these being Scottish laws, a new investigation has revealed.
The Guardian revealed the full extent of these “extraordinary” exemptions, which in Scotland range from hate crime to environmental laws.
Police must first seek the Queen’s permission to investigate her Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire and her privately owned salmon and trout fishing business, also located in Balmoral, if they suspected crimes.
READ MORE: Government memo reveals Queen's secret influence on Scottish laws
These exemptions cover a range of laws which prohibit crimes from wildlife offences to environmental pollution. She is the only private landowner to be afforded these exemptions under law.
Previously in a 2021 Guardian investigation it was revealed that the Queen is exempt from the 2010 Equality Act, which effectively means that employees of the Queen cannot pursue a formal legal complaint if they believe they have been discriminated against on the basis of race, sex or equal pay.
She is also not required to comply with the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act.
This means her rateable value for deer stalking is lower than that of many pubs, shops and restaurants in the area, meaning smaller local businesses pay higher business rates in comparison.
The Queen already enjoys sovereign immunity, a doctrine which outlines that the monarch cannot be subject to civil legal action under the law. These exemptions have the effect of extending this immunity, through rendering actions that may be otherwise considered against the law but permissible, in accordance with the law, Thomas Adams, an associate professor of law at Oxford University told The Guardian.
He continued to state that this “comes as a big cost”, and causes “pretty big problems for our sense of equality before the law”.
In contrast to Westminster, the Scottish government in 2010 said that the Queen should be bound by legislation, unless legitimate reasons for exemption were presented.
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