COMMENTARY ON SECTIONS General Section 195 – Crown application
288.This section provides for the Act to apply to the Crown and to Crown property. It also applies to land of the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall (except to the extent that they are occupied by the Queen or the Prince of Wales).
289.The Board of the Green Cloth is a committee of the Royal Household responsible for licensing inns "within the verge of the Palace" (i.e. Buckingham Palace). There are a number of public houses within the jurisdiction of the Board, which is limited to what used to be the private grounds of the Sovereign, and includes Carlton House Terrace, the northern end of Whitehall and the National Gallery (the former Royal Stables). Those areas currently within the jurisdiction of the Board of Green Cloth are within the remit of the Act, so that licensing functions in respect of these areas are to be carried out by the relevant licensing authority.
290.Activities carried out at royal palaces are not “licensable activities” for the purposes of the Act (see section 173). This would include, for example, the Palace of Westminster.