William gets shown secret Cabinet files like his father

The row over Prince Charles receiving secret government papers took a twist last night when it emerged his son William has access to them too.

The Cabinet Office confirmed that the Queen’s grandson is ‘occasionally’ given cabinet documents to help him understand the workings of Whitehall and to prepare him for when he is king.

The revelation is all the more surprising because William, who is second in line to the throne, is not even a fulltime working royal. Although he is steadily taking on duties on behalf of his grandmother, his primary job is as a pilot for the east Anglian Air Ambulance Service.

A three-year battle under the Freedom of Information Act ended on Tuesday with a judge ordering the release of papers showing Charles has been given high-level cabinet memoranda for decades.

Campaigners say this has allowed the prince to ‘meddle’ in official business and lobby ministers in favour of his chosen interests, such as town planning. News that his son was similarly briefed led the antimonarchist group Republic, which led the freedom of information fight, to describe the situation as a ‘free for all’. It told the BBC: ‘There appears to be no good reason why William is getting this information.’

The prince’s office at Kensington Palace referred enquiries to the Cabinet Office, which said in a statement: ‘The Duke of Cambridge is a senior member of the royal family and future heir to the throne and therefore of course it is appropriate that he is regularly briefed on government business.’

The Government has set up an independent commission to look at ways of diluting the FoI Act, potentially by making it easier to refuse a request. The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy heywood, has claimed the law hampers the ‘smooth running’ of government.