By royal command

HE bill prompts questions in unusual places

Not many have heard of the Privy Council. Even one of the few recorded popular accounts* calls it “the unknown arm of government”. It is in fact an organisation of mostly serving and former MPs and peers and a handful of ministers and it exists to advise the monarch.

But what the Privy Council lacks in profile, it more than compensates for in influence. Over the coming weeks we should expect to hear from many of its members, some of whom are a little unhappy. That is because the government is proposing to override one of the Privy Council’s more useful functions, which is its overall responsibility for more than 50 universities that have a royal charter.