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Royal Archives

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Royal Archives

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 were formally established as recently as 1911. Since 1912 they have been in the Round Tower of Windsor Castle, and now also occupy the adjacent Norman Gateway.

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

The Queen's Archives comprise the Keeper (the Sovereign's Private Secretary, currently Sir Christopher Geidt), an Assistant Keeper of the Queen's Archives (also The Librarian, Royal Library), and professional staff under a Senior Archivist (formerly known as a Registrar, and until the 1950s known as Recorder). The Senior Archivist is the archivist in charge of day-to-day work in the archives. There are several Assistant Archivists, as well as a small clerical staff. The Senior Curator of the Photograph Collection, who looks after the 400,000 photographs in the royal collection, is now responsible to the Director of the Royal Collection.

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. Access to this online archive is restricted to academic institutions and libraries.

References

Royal Archives Wikipedia