Courtier demanded assurance king could not be prosecuted under new Welsh law

Royal courtiers privately put pressure on the Welsh government to ensure that King Charles could not be prosecuted for rural crimes under a new law that ministers had drawn up, documents reveal.

The elected politician in the Welsh government who is its chief legal adviser was “not happy” that the king was to be given the special exemption from prosecution but agreed to it last year.

A Buckingham Palace official phoned the Welsh government to secure the assurance under an archaic custom that requires UK parliaments to obtain the consent of the monarch for draft bills before they can be implemented.

More than 30 laws stipulate, for example, that police are barred from entering the privately owned Balmoral and Sandringham estates without the king’s permission to investigate possible crimes, including wildlife offences and environmental pollution.

Email rob.evans@theguardian.com, or (using a non-work phone) use Signal or WhatsApp to message +44 7721 857348.According to Buckingham Palace, the royal household rang the Welsh government to ensure that “as a matter of legal correctness” the monarch could not be prosecuted under the act.

Other laws which have been screened by Charles under the consent mechanism include legislation relating to the rents that UK landowners can charge mobile phone companies for putting up masts on their land and the management of Scottish private trusts.