OREANDA-NEWS. On Sunday, February 7, the Guardian newspaper published an investigation based on documents from the National Archives of Great Britain. The journalists claim that Elizabeth II got acquainted with the bill as part of the procedure for granting «royal assent» and instructed her lawyers to contact the government to present their objections to it. As a result, the law provided for a provision according to which the cabinet can make exceptions for certain investors and keep their investments secret. Thus, the queen, as the head of state, was able not to disclose the size of her fortune.

However, Buckingham Palace said, that the head of state always gives the «green light» to bills provided by the government. «Royal assent is a parliamentary procedure in which the role of the sovereign is purely formal», the official statement of Elizabeth II's representatives said. «The monarch always gives it if the cabinet asks for it and the claim that the sovereign blocked the adoption of the law is simply not true», noticed in Buckingham Palace.

In May 2020, the Sunday Times newspaper estimated the personal fortune of Elizabeth II at 350 million pounds, so she took the 372nd place in the list of the richest people in the UK. According to the newspaper, compared to 2019, the size of the royal wealth decreased by 20 million pounds, which is explained by the market drop in prices for investments belonging to it.