As Scoop hits Netflix, it’s time to open the secret files on Prince Andrew

As the dramatisation of his infamous and disastrous interview with Emily Maitlis is broadcast, Prince Andrew will again find himself under the spotlight. But while we can pick over the details of his trip to Pizza Express, I’m banned from seeing official documents about the Duke until 2065. It’s time these absurd rules were changed, writes Andrew Lownie

Prince Andrew’s infamous and disastrous interview with Emily Maitlis is dramatised in Netflix’s Scoop (Mark Harrison/BBC/PA)

Documents are the lifeblood of historians, the tools with which we build our picture of the past. For most historians and biographers there is a surfeit of sources to draw from, ranging from documents in public archives and private collections to accounts in books and interviews.

For the royal historian, however, there is very little beyond often inaccurate press cuttings, and briefings by “sources” in royal circles. Even Netflix reenactments of infamous interviews only allow an interpreation of what the royals themselves chose to put in the public domain.

This is because there remains a deference and culture of secrecy with regard to the royal family. They are largely exempt from the Freedom of Information Act; the Royal Archives have no public inventory – rather like a restaurant with no menu; what papers are deposited in the National Archives are subject to a series of exemptions; and those who have worked with them are almost inevitably subject to confidentiality contracts.