Queen's Balmoral estate only building exempt from using renewable energy after secret lobbying

Queen Elizabeth II's lawyers secretly lobbied to have her exempted from following a mandatory new climate change law that was implemented by the Scottish government earlier this year.

The Queen's private 50,000 acre Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire makes her a major landowner in Scotland. As per the new green energy bill that became law on March 30, homeowners are required to use renewable energy to heat their buildings.

The Queen was also supposed to abide by the new regulations, but her lawyers worked ahead to ensure that her main estate would be exempted. In documents unearthed by Lily Humphreys, a researcher for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Nicola Sturgeon's government approached the Crown prior to presenting the bill as part of a parliamentary process known as Queen's consent. The government is required to ask the monarch for permission to debate laws that affect her during the drafting of a bill that is in the stages of going through parliament.

According to the papers seen by The Guardian, the Sturgeon government failed to divulge the Queen's lobbying during a parliamentary debate to question why the monarch was obtaining an exemption from the green energy bill. The Queen's lawyers had already secured the exemption five months ago. On February 3, officials working for energy minister Paul Wheelhouse noted that the monarch's lawyers contacted them about the heat networks bill, which aims to contribute to Scotland's climate change targets by increasing district heating in the country.

Wheelhouse agreed to amend the bill, saying the "minister agreed to proposed amendment that would address [sic] concerns from Queen's solicitors." After two weeks, the Queen gave the Scottish government her assent for the bill to be passed.

The exemption only applies to the Queen's private land in the country, which is the Balmoral estate, but the properties under the Crown including Glenlivet would still have to follow the regulations. During a debate between MSPs five days after the bill was passed, Wheelhouse submitted an amendment that applied solely to land owned by the monarch.

MSP Andy Wightman objected that it was wrong to only pick out the Queen for preferential treatment, while former Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie expressed concerns over "secret doors" made available to the Queen to change laws. However, Wheelhouse claimed that it was "required to ensure the smooth passage of the bill," and avoided mentioning the lobbying done by the Queen's lawyers.