Royal Archives

A photograph showing the left hand side of a circular stone tower made of grey stone and with small windows.
The Round Tower of Windsor Castle

The Royal Archives, also known as the Queen's Archives, is a division of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It is operationally under the control of the Keeper of the Royal Archives, who is customarily the Private Secretary to the Sovereign.

Although Sovereigns have kept records for centuries, the Royal Archives was formally established as recently as 1912 and occupies part of the Round Tower of Windsor Castle.

Recent files and those currently in use are retained at Buckingham Palace.

The Queen's Archives is the responsibility of the Assistant Keeper of the Queen's Archives (also The Librarian, Royal Library), and professional staff under the Archives Services Manager who is in charge of the day-to-day work in the archives. There are several qualified Archivists, as well as a small clerical staff.

Sir John Wheeler-Bennett, GCVO, MCG, OBE, FRSL, FBA, was Historical Adviser to the Queen's Archives from 1959 to 1975.

In 2012 the Archives successfully completed a project to scan Queen Victoria's journals and make them available online as a special project for the diamond jubilee of Victoria's great-great-granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.[1] Access to this online archive is freely available in the UK but restricted to academic institutions and libraries abroad.[2]

As part of the Georgian Papers Programme, the Royal Archives plans to catalogue all its papers relating to the Hanoverian monarchy and make them freely available online by 2020.[3]

The Royal Photograph Collection also occupies part of the Round Tower and holds over 400 000 items of photographic material from the Royal Collection. The Royal Photograph Collection is managed separately from the Royal Archives and is the responsibility of the Head Curator of the Photograph Collection, who reports to the Director of the Royal Collection.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kennedy, Maev (24 May 2012), "Queen Victoria's private journals published online", The Guardian
  2. ↑ "Queen Victoria's Journals/Free Trial". Queen Victoria's Journals. Royal Archives. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "Georgian Papers Programme". www.royalcollection.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-16.

Coordinates: 51°30′04″N 0°08′31″W / 51.501°N 0.142°W / 51.501; -0.142

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