The British Royal Family appears to have become involved in yet another controversial scandal that reflects poorly on some of its members.

King Charles and others are facing scrutiny for failing to publish for the past few years an annual list of official gifts received by members of the Royal Family, which the family previously vowed to do in the interest of transparency, The Guardian reported.

The failure to produce those promised annual reports has prompted critics of the monarchy to demand that the Royal Family be held to the same standard as elected politicians in terms of being required to publicly reveal certain gifts received from others.

No annual lists released of official gifts, despite promises from Royal Family

Following multiple prior scandals about questionable gifts received by Royal Family members from controversial foreign dignitaries and officials, the British monarchy established a practice in the 1990s, updated in the mid-2000s, of publicly revealing the provenance of certain "official" gifts in lists that were published annually.

However, per The Guardian, the last such list was published in 2020 for gifts received in 2019, with the lack of transparency being blamed on issues created by the pandemic, the late Queen's death, and the ascendant King's coronation, among other things.

Yet, there is little doubt that the Family has continued to receive various "official" gifts in the interim that should have been publicly revealed, some of which may have controversial origins, per rumors and reports, and now there are demands for some accountability.

Guidelines established on royal gift receiving following prior controversies

The Guardian reported separately that beginning in 1995, with an update in 2003, the British Royal Family has a set of unenforceable guidelines and rules for gifts received that generally divide those presents into two distinct categories -- official gifts that must be publicly disclosed and personal gifts that may be kept private.

Official gifts include items received from corporate entities or individuals not personally known to the recipient, such as domestic and foreign dignitaries and officials, and heads of state. Those items are technically owned by the monarchy and not the individual recipient, and while they can be borrowed and worn or used, they are otherwise kept in storage or on public display and cannot be traded or sold.

Those official gifts are also supposed to be publicly disclosed in annual lists, unlike personal gifts that are received from individuals with some sort of acknowledged relationship with the recipient. Those items be considered to be the personal property of the family member who received them.

Unfortunately, aside from the purported annual lists, not much is known about any gifts received other than what is publicly shared, and there is no formal database or details about gifts received before the policy was created a few decades ago, even though there are some legitimate questions about the potentially controversial origins of various gifts received before records were kept.

Critics insist royals should face same transparency standards as politicians

According to The Independent, an anti-monarchy group known as Republic is now demanding "full disclosure" of all gifts received by the Royal Family in light of the lack of transparency in that regard for the past several years. In response to the demands, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said, "The royal gifts lists will be published in due course."

"If politicians are being lambasted for failing to declare gifts, the same should apply to the royals," Republic's executive director Graham Smith said. "It is vital that the public knows about any possible conflicts of interest or attempts to curry favor with royals, as they have direct access to the highest levels of government. And we need to know if official gifts are being handed over to the state or surreptitiously kept for personal use."

"Charles and senior royals have access to government papers, can have secretive meetings with ministers and the prime minister and they have leverage to pressure government to do favors for them and their friends," he continued. "So it’s vital we know what gifts they’re receiving."

"The royals have form when it comes to blurring the lines between what’s theirs to keep and what’s an official gift. So full disclosure is needed on what’s been received and where those gifts are now," Smith added. "If we demand high standards from politicians, we must demand those same standards from the royals."