The Supreme Court has dismissed the Government's bid to keep letters written by the Prince of Wales to MPs hidden from the public.
The judgement is the latest step in a 10-year legal battle to establish what Charles has written to politicians and whether, in the process, he has overstepped the mark of political neutrality.
The 27 notes, written in 2004 and 2005, have become known as the "black spider memos" because of the Prince's sprawling handwriting and abundant use of underlining and exclamation marks.
The battle to make them public began when Guardian journalist Rob Evans applied to see a number of written communications between Charles and various government ministers between September 2004 and April 2005.
Last year, judges at the Court of Appeal ruled the Attorney General, then Dominic Grieve, on behalf of the Government, had "no good reason" to stop the letters from being released.
In a final attempt to prevent their publication, the Government turned to the Supreme Court to ask it to overturn that ruling.
But the court's president Lord Neuberger said there was a "fundamental composite principle" behind its reasons for dismissing the appeal.
He announced: "That principle is that a decision of a judicial body should be final and binding and should not be capable of being overturned by a member of the executive."
Responding to the Supreme Court's decision, Clarence House said it was "a matter for the Government" but they were "disappointed the principle of privacy had not been upheld".
It is unclear what the letters are about but they were written to seven departments, including the Cabinet Office and, according to Mr Grieve, the letters reflect the Prince's "most deeply held personal views and beliefs".
Prince Charles is well-known for "bombarding" ministers with letters attacking policy on topics from the environment and farming to complementary medicine and architecture, and he has always argued his campaigning is a catalyst for change.
But some believe he goes too far and strays into party-political matters, and that the letters could damage his role as future monarch.
The Prime Minister described the ruling as disappointing and said the Government would now consider how to release the letters.
"This is about the principle that senior members of the Royal Family are able to express their views to government confidentially," David Cameron said.
"I think most people would agree this is fair enough.
"Our FOI laws specifically include the option of a governmental veto, which we exercised in this case for a reason.
"If the legislation does not make Parliament's intentions for the veto clear enough, then we will need to make it clearer."
The editor-in-chief of the Guardian said the ruling marked "a good day for transparency in government".
Alan Rusbridger added: "The Government wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds trying to cover up these letters, admitting their publication would 'seriously damage' perceptions of the Prince's political neutrality.
"Now they must publish them so that the public can make their own judgement."
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