The ruling on Prince Charles’s letters is a huge victory for freedom of information | Martin Kettle

Secret correspondence with ministers will be now made public. The separation of powers our ancestors fought for has been upheld

The crown is the embodiment of English law. So it is pretty hard to bring a case against the monarch, and almost as difficult to bring a case against the monarch’s heir. Very occasionally, however, it happens. And the courts have made such a ruling today, permitting the publication of Prince Charles’s letters to ministers. The judgment doesn’t shatter the state in the way that the decision to execute Charles I did in 1649. But it opens a surprising number of similar questions.

Related: Prince Charles memos: supreme court rules in favour of the Guardian - live

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