Royal Archives

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The Royal Archives, also known as the Queen's Archives, are 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 Queen's 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, an Assistant Keeper of the Queen's Archives, and professional staff under a Registrar. The Registrar of the Queen's Archives, known as Recorder until the 1950s, is the archivist in charge of day-to-day work in the archives. There are several Assistant Registrars, as well as a small clerical staff. The Curator of the Photographic Collection, who looks after the 80,000 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, 1959-75.