Michael Fawcett: Charles' former aide steps down
over honour claims
Published15
hours ago
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58451647
"Is
the story true?" - Michael Fawcett faces reporters after claims about his
conduct surfaced.
A former
aide to the Prince of Wales has temporarily stepped down from his role as chief
executive of The Prince's Foundation amid claims that he helped secure an
honour for a major donor.
Michael
Fawcett has been accused of offering to help a wealthy Saudi businessman with
an honour.
Mahfouz
Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz received an honorary CBE in late 2016.
The prince
was not aware of any link between donations to the foundation and honours, a
close source told the BBC.
The Met
Police said it was "aware of media reports and await further contact in
relation to this matter".
Mr Fawcett
became chief executive of the Prince's Foundation in 2018. It is an educational
charity and encompasses a number of Prince Charles' charitable interests.
The
heritage-led regeneration of the Dumfries House estate in Ayrshire is at the
heart of the organisation's work, the foundation's website says.
Claims
about Mr Fawcett's conduct were published in the Sunday Times and Mail on
Sunday.
The Sunday
Times said Mr Mahfouz, who denies any wrongdoing, donated large sums to
restoration projects of particular interest to Prince Charles.
Mr Fawcett
is alleged to have co-ordinated support for an honour for Mr Mahfouz, according
to newspaper reports.
Douglas
Connell, chair of The Prince's Foundation, said Mr Fawcett offered on Saturday
to step down temporarily from chief executive duties while an investigation was
carried out.
Mr Connell
added: "The Prince's Foundation has accepted this offer. Michael fully
supports the ongoing investigation and has confirmed that he will assist the
investigation in every way."
A
spokeswoman for The Prince's Foundation said it "takes very seriously the
allegations that have recently been brought to its attention and the matter is
currently under investigation".
Mr Fawcett
was once a close aide of Prince Charles and served as his valet until 2003.
BBC royal
correspondent Jonny Dymond said that a Palace source stressed the distance
between Prince Charles' office and his foundation, but Mr Fawcett was known for
being close to Prince Charles and these allegations were an
"embarrassment" for him.
Mr Fawcett
began his royal service in 1981 as a footman to the Queen, before later
becoming Prince Charles' assistant valet.
In 2003 he
was cleared of financial misconduct allegations over the selling of royal
gifts.
He resigned
after the internal report criticised the running of the royal household, but
continued to work as a freelance fixer and Prince Charles' events manager.
Prince Charles' closest aide Michael Fawcett is forced
to resign after damning letter reveals he offered Saudi donor help securing a
knighthood and British citizenship
Prince Charles' closest aide Michael Fawcett quits
after 'cash for favours scandal' was revealed in 2017 letter
He dramatically resigned his top role as the
£95,000-a-year chief executive of The Prince's Foundation
Fawcett had said the royal charity would be 'happy and
willing' to use its influence to help wealthy Saudi donor and businessman Dr
Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz 'in light of his recent generosity', note
says
Dr Mahfouz was touted to receive knighthood and
citizenship support after sending six-figure donations
By KATE
MANSEY and JONATHAN BUCKS FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
PUBLISHED:
22:13 BST, 4 September 2021 | UPDATED: 10:32 BST, 5 September 2021
The Prince of Wales’s closest aide dramatically resigned
last night after The Mail on Sunday exposed how he offered to help secure a
knighthood and British citizenship for a billionaire Saudi donor to Charles’s
charity.
Michael Fawcett stepped down as chief executive of The
Prince’s Foundation after being confronted with a letter in which he said the
Royal charity would be ‘happy and willing’ to use its influence to help
businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, who had given it hundreds of
thousands of pounds.
The charity said that Mr Fawcett – arguably the
Prince’s most trusted aide – had ‘offered to step down temporarily’ while its
trustees investigate.
The ‘cash for favours’ scandal centres on how donations for Charles’s cherished scheme to renovate Dumfries House, a Palladian mansion in Scotland, were solicited and what may have been promised in return.
The bombshell letter, written by Mr Fawcett on August
18, 2017, to Busief Lamlum, an aide to Dr Bin Mahfouz, says: ‘In light of the
ongoing and most recent generosity of His Excellency... I am happy to confirm
to you, in confidence, that we are willing and happy to support and contribute
to the application for Citizenship.
'I can further confirm that we are willing to make
[an] application to increase His Excellency’s honour from Honorary CBE to that
of KBE in accordance with Her Majesty’s Honours Committee.’
Michael Fawcett, The Prince of Wales’s closest aide,
dramatically resigned last night after The Mail on Sunday exposed how he
offered to help secure a knighthood and British citizenship for a billionaire
Saudi donor
The revelation comes a week after this newspaper
published a leaked email in which society fixer Michael Wynne-Parker provided
details of how dinner with Charles and an overnight stay at Dumfries House
could be secured in exchange for a six-figure donation paid through a bank
account linked to Burke’s Peerage, a guide to the aristocracy.
With Charles facing the threat of the scandal wreaking
serious harm to his reputation, the MoS can reveal that:
Former Minister Norman Baker, a respected author on
royal finances, said the sale of honours was an offence and he would be
contacting Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick and asking her to
investigate;
The Prince’s Foundation, which is registered in
Scotland, had alerted the Scottish Charity Regulator to its probe;
Mystery deepened about the whereabouts of a £500,000
donation to the Prince’s Foundation by a Russian banker whose invite to Dumfries
House was revoked
The charity went into business with a Latvian tycoon
who was later convicted of money-laundering.
It was also claimed last night that Mr Fawcett worked
with fixers to have an honorary OBE proposed to Dr Bin Mahfouz ‘upgraded’ to a
CBE.
In an email obtained by The Sunday Times, William
Bortrick, the editor of Burke’s Peerage, wrote: ‘[Michael Fawcett] needs to
keep to his side of the bargain and sort out the Hon OBE immediately.’
The sheikh received the honorary CBE, for services to
charity, from Prince Charles in a private Buckingham Palace ceremony in 2016.
In the damning letter to Mr Lamlum obtained by the MoS
Mr Fawcett makes no effort to disguise that support for the knighthood and
citizenship application depends on Dr Bin Mahfouz’s financial support.
Writing on headed notepaper in his then capacity as
chief executive of the Dumfries House Trust, he said: ‘Both of these
applications will be made in response to the most recent and anticipated
support [of] The Trust, and in connection with his ongoing commitment generally
within the United Kingdom.
'I hope that this confirmation is sufficient in
allowing us to go forward.’
The charity said that Mr Fawcett – arguably the
Prince’s most trusted aide – had ‘offered to step down temporarily’ while its
trustees investigate as former Palace officials noted his departure was 'an
earthquake' to the future King
A year later, Mr Fawcett’s responsibilities grew when
he was put in charge of Charles’s entire charitable empire as the
£95,000-a-year chief executive of the Foundation.
One of his main tasks was securing donations for
Dumfries House, which Charles bought in 2007 and which he has spent many
millions of pounds on renovating.
The bombshell letter, written by Mr Fawcett on August
18, 2017, to Busief Lamlum, an aide to Dr Bin Mahfouz, says: ‘In light of the
ongoing and most recent generosity of His Excellency... I am happy to confirm
to you, in confidence, that we are willing and happy to support and contribute
to the application for Citizenship.' Above: Charles meets Dr Bin Mahfouz
Responding to our revelations, Douglas Connell,
chairman of The Prince’s Foundation, said last night: ‘Earlier today, Michael
Fawcett offered to step down temporarily from active duties as chief executive
of The Prince’s Foundation while the trustees’ investigation is ongoing.
'The Prince’s Foundation has accepted this offer.
Michael fully supports the ongoing investigation and has confirmed that he will
assist in every way.’
Emily Cherrington, the Foundation’s chief operating
officer, will assume Mr Fawcett’s responsibilities while the probe is carried
out.
Last night, a spokesman for Dr Bin Mahfouz said he had
‘not had personal or direct communication to either request, influence or make
any arrangements regarding citizenship or knighthood with Mr Fawcett, or anyone
connected to HRH The Prince of Wales or The Prince’s Foundation’.
Insisting that Dr Bin Mahfouz had not expected any
reward for his charitable donations, the spokesman added: ‘His Excellency had
expressed an interest in applying for citizenship but in the end decided not to
pursue that further.’
Dr Bin Mahfouz has made several six-figure donations
to Charles’s charities and in October 2014 was invited to Dumfries House for
the unveiling of a fountain named in his honour.
Mr Wynne-Parker, then a Trustee of the Mahfouz
Foundation, was photographed at the event shaking hands with Prince Charles. Mr
Bortrick is seen smiling in the background a few feet away.
The departure of Mr Fawcett –who wielded power greater
than most courtiers and was dubbed ‘Rasputin’ by some colleagues – will send
shockwaves through Charles’s household. Mr Fawcett has twice been forced to
resign in the past, but each time has been reinstated to a position of
influence.
A former Royal aide said he was surprised by Charles’s
continued reliance on such a controversial figure. ‘Michael brings the money in
and gets results, so the Prince feels he needs him around, but I never liked
him. More importantly, Michael is a serious risk as far as the Prince’s reputation
is concerned.’
Another source said that there had been ‘a reluctant
acceptance’ that Charles would need to ‘dine with the Bond villains’ – wealthy
and often colourful foreign investors – to bring in major donations required to
keep his ambitious charity projects afloat.
The ethics committee of the Prince’s Foundation is
already probing Mr Wynne-Parker’s email in which he set out how wealthy donors
could pay £100,000 to secure a lavish dinner with the Prince of Wales and an
overnight stay at Dumfries House.
It said fixers would pocket up to 25 per cent of the
fees, an arrangement the Prince insists he was unaware of.
The email said ‘clients’ would assemble for pre-dinner
drinks before ‘HRH appears and greets each guest individually with conversation
and photographer’.
Shaking hands with a Prince: Pin-striped fixer Michael
Wynne-Parker's VERY chequered business past
By Jonathan Bucks and Jon Ungoed-Thomas for The Mail
on Sunday
Standing in the grand entrance hall of Dumfries House,
Prince Charles warmly clasped the hand of veteran fundraiser Michael
Wynne-Parker.
Smiling a few feet away and smartly dressed in a pin-striped
suit was William Bortrick, the publisher of the aristocratic bible Burke’s
Peerage.
The three men were gathered to celebrate and mark the
generosity of another figure in the room, Dr Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz.
Society fixer Mr Wynne-Parker was an advisor to the
Saudi businessman, who had agreed to donate a significant sum to Dumfries
House, the 18th Century Palladian mansion in Ayrshire.
Standing in the grand entrance hall of Dumfries House,
Prince Charles warmly clasped the hand of veteran fundraiser Michael
Wynne-Parker (pictured above). The three men were gathered to celebrate and
mark the generosity of another figure in the room, Dr Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin
Mahfouz (pictured, back right)
The Prince’s Foundation established by the future King
has worked for years to painstakingly – and expensively – restore the property,
with Charles overseeing every detail.
The event in October 2014 to open landscaped gardens
and a fountain named after Dr Bin Mahfouz celebrated the first of a string of
generous donations that he made to the Prince’s projects.
The following year, he reportedly gave £370,000 to the
Castle of Mey, the Highlands retreat once owned by the Queen Mother and now
another of Charles’ charitable ventures.
On this occasion, a nearby wood was named in the
businessman’s honour and six benches were given plaques bearing his name and
those of his relatives.
Supporting Charles may, however, have potentially
offered more than benches and trees.
A letter obtained by The Mail on Sunday reveals the
Prince’s Foundation was ‘willing and happy’ to support Dr Bin Mahfouz’s
application for British citizenship and to recommend him for a knighthood.
Last week, Mr Wynne-Parker (pictured) claimed to have
arranged donations totalling £2 million from a Saudi businessman who had been
invited to Dumfries House several times
The author of the note, written in August 2017, was
Michael Fawcett, one of Charles’s most influential aides.
The revelation drags the royal ‘cash for access’
scandal far closer to the Prince’s doorstep.
Toffs’ guide chairman with links to Putin’s top sport
By Jon Ungoed-Thomas for The Mail on Sunday
After being out of print for nearly two decades, the
once-revered aristocratic guide Burke’s Peerage may no longer be required
reading in the country’s stately homes – but the name is still a powerful
calling card.
Its chairman William Bortrick is a familiar figure in
London’s private clubs and dining rooms and can often be seen hovering in the
background at many of the functions and ceremonies attended by society fixer
Michael Wynne-Parker.
He is also a member of the founding board of the
Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, which is chaired by Mr Wynne-Parker and
has faced disputed allegations that it is a front for Russian influence.
Mr Wynne-Parker has dismissed such claims as ‘crazy’
and insists the society is a religious and cultural organisation.
Mr Bortrick is also an adviser to the Commonwealth
Sambo Association, which champions a Russian martial art and combat sport which
may feature in the 2028 Olympics and is strongly backed by Russian President
Vladimir Putin.
The fighting techniques were developed by the Soviet
Red Army in the early 1920s to improve unarmed combat.
Mr Wynne-Parker is president of the association and
regularly presides over combat events.
The links between the two men are under scrutiny
following claims that donations for The Prince’s Foundation could be sent
through a Burke’s Peerage bank account.
Mr Bortrick has denied any wrongdoing and that the
proposed arrangement, revealed in an email written by Mr Wynne-Parker and
published last weekend by The Mail on Sunday, was ever discussed with him.
He said if he had been told about it, he would have
‘hit the roof’ because it was so inappropriate.
Burke’s Peerage was established by the genealogist
John Burke in 1826, expanding over the years into various editions.
The firm was chaired from 1974 to 1983 by the
entrepreneur Jeremy Norman, who founded the gay nightclub Heaven and
established the fitness chain Soho Gyms.
The title was bought by Mr Bortrick in 2013, who now
runs it with the Canadian investor and entrepreneur Sam Malin.
Irene Major, who is Malin’s wife and lives with him in
a Gothic mansion in Kent, wrote on her Instagram page last week: ‘I’m not
involved in selling access to Prince Charles and resent any implication that I
am; any involvement I have with the Royal Family is for charity purposes.’
Burke’s Peerage says on its website that it intends to
publish further editions, but is still in the process of updating records. The
last printed edition was in 2003.
One of the companies in which Bortrick is a director,
Burke’s Peerage Enterprises, had net assets of just £3,797 at the end of last
March, while another, Burke’s Peerage, had net assets of £1.9 million.
Last week, The
Mail on Sunday revealed an email written by Mr Wynne-Parker detailing how
clients could pay six-figure sums to secure dinner with Charles and an
overnight stay at Dumfries House.
In the email, he proposed taking a five per cent
commission on any donation, with the money sent via the bank account of Mr
Bortrick’s firm, Burke’s Peerage Ltd.
Last week, Mr Wynne-Parker claimed to have arranged
donations totalling £2 million from a Saudi businessman who had been invited to
Dumfries House several times.
He did not say whether the donor was Dr bin Mahfouz or
if he had accepted any fees or commission.
A spokesman for Dr Bin Mahfouz last night said Mr
Wynne-Parker had advised the businessman until 2019 and been a trustee of his
foundation until 2017.
He insisted, however, that Mr Wynne-Parker had played
no role in the donation to Dumfries House, but had advised him to give to the
Castle of Mey project, although there was no fee or commission for doing so.
‘Mr Wynne-Parker was a patron of the Castle of Mey
before he met His Excellency and advised him to support that charity,’ the
spokesman said.
‘That led to His Excellency being invited to explore
the work of Dumfries House. Mr Wynne-Parker was aware of, but not involved in,
the process with Dumfries House.’
The affair is the latest colourful chapter in Mr
Wynne-Parker’s story of financial mishaps and misjudgments.
Once an aspiring politician, standing unsuccessfully
as a Tory candidate in local elections in Norfolk, he was elected chairman of
the Norwich Conservative candidate committee in August 1974.
He soon became a regular at the Monday Club, the
Right-wing Westminster pressure group aligned with the Conservative Party, and
proved to be a masterful networker, ingratiating himself with influential
businessmen, politicians and royalty.
He even once introduced Saif Gaddafi, the son of the
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, to Margaret Thatcher at a book launch.
It was through the Monday Club that Mr Wynne-Parker
met Jonathan Guinness, a scion of the brewery and banking family and now a
peer, Lord Moyne.
The pair worked together on a series of business
ventures with Mr Wynne-Parker’s consultancy firm Introcom.
Reflecting on those ventures in his 2011 book If My
Table Could Talk, Mr Wynne-Parker wrote: ‘Though we were not highly successful
in financial terms, we had plenty of adventures.’
One project was an airline called Tajik Air which ran
into financial trouble and ceased operating in 1994, despite a summit arranged
by Mr Wynne-Parker between the then Tajik Prime Minister Abdujalil Samadov and
Mrs Thatcher.
The City of London fraud squad was reportedly called
in after complaints from creditors.
Mr Wynne-Parker said at the time that Introcom had no
financial involvement, but had only provided consultancy services.
Undeterred, Mr Wynne-Parker and Lord Moyne launched
Access To Justice which rented out office suites and gave free legal advice to
those seeking to overturn their convictions because of alleged miscarriages of
justice.
It was claimed that the firm misrepresented itself as
a charity and that a convicted fraudster was involved in its operations.
Margaret Beckett, then the Secretary of State for
Trade and Industry, obtained a court order to shut down the company in the
public interest.
Both Mr Wynne-Parker and Lord Moyne were banned from
being company directors for five years in 2000 because of their roles in Access
To Justice.
It was not the first time that Mr Wynne-Parker had
been censured by the regulators.
Ten years earlier, his firm Wynne-Parker Financial
Management had been shut down by financial watchdogs.
He was found guilty on 16 counts of misconduct and
fined £10,000 with a judge saying that it seemed the businessman had ‘the clear
modus operandi of a crook’.
‘I’ve never been taught to do business at all,’ Mr
Wynne-Parker said in a 2003 interview. ‘I’m not the sort of chap who’s interested
in money.’
Mystery of the
missing £500,000: Prince Charles' foundation insists it returned Russian
banker's cash... but he says he doesn't have it
By Kate Mansey for The Mail on Sunday
A former Russian banker who donated £500,000 to The
Prince’s Foundation and expected to secure a trip to Dumfries House – only to
have the invitation withdrawn – has sensationally claimed that he hasn’t got
the money back yet.
The Mail on Sunday last week revealed that Dmitry Leus
had cited the donation in his successful application to the Home Office for
British residency.
The financier had agreed the donation with Michael
Wynne-Parker, a society fixer who had asked for the funds to be sent to The
Prince’s Foundation via a bank account held by Burke’s Peerage, the gentry
guide. Burke’s Peerage denies handling any of the money.
The foundation said last week it no longer had the
cash and it had been returned ‘to source’ after questions were raised by its
ethics committee about Mr Leus’s suitability as a donor. The charity did not
say, however, to whom the money had been returned.
Lawyers for Mr Leus said: ‘Our client made a donation
to The Prince’s Foundation in good faith via Burke’s Peerage. Burke’s Peerage
have not returned any of the money to him.’
Former Russian banker Dmitry Leus (above) donated
£500,000 to the Prince’s Foundation and expected to secure a trip to Dumfries
House, but claims his offer was revoked and he never saw his money returned
The Mail on Sunday understands that one payment of
£200,000 was sent by Mr Leus’s wife, Zhanna, on May 11, 2020, to Burke’s
Peerage. A second bank transfer of £300,000 was made on September 3, 2020.
A source close to Mr Leus said there were concerns the
full £500,000 may not have ever reached The Prince’s Foundation as intended.
In a further twist, the Mahfouz Foundation, a
charitable trust run by billionaire Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz,
yesterday claimed it was holding £300,000 of Mr Leus’s funds, and Mr
Wynne-Parker, a former trustee of the Mahfouz Foundation, had the remainder.
A spokesman for the foundation said: ‘The Mahfouz
Foundation is holding £300,000 on behalf of Mr Leus and await instructions on
that being returned. Mr Wynne-Parker is the trustee of Mr Leus and has the
remaining £200,000.’
Informed of the development, Mr Leus’s lawyers said:
‘Our client never heard of the Mahfouz Foundation until today. He was certainly
never consulted about his donation being held there and never consented to
this.
‘It was done entirely without his knowledge. He is
deeply shocked at what appears to have happened to a charitable donation given
in good faith.’
The mystery is yet another insight into the strange
and sometimes murky world of the vast charity donations made by wealthy
foreigners to the Royal charity.
In an email revealed by this newspaper last week,
society fixer Mr Wynne-Parker outlined a scheme by which donors could meet the
Prince of Wales for dinner and stay overnight at Dumfries House.
Mr Wynne-Parker said that after middle-men – himself
included – had taken a 25 per cent cut of the suggested £100,000, the rest
would be funnelled through a bank account held by Burke’s Peerage.
Born in Turkmenistan, Mr Leus has Russian and Israeli
citizenship, but entered Britain on a European Union passport from Cyprus.
He lives in the Knightsbridge area of London with his
wife and their four sons. He was a European fencing champion aged 17 and said
in a recent interview: ‘My business mindset was created in the gymnasiums and
competition halls of my teenage years.’
CAROLINE
GRAHAM: Farewell (again) to the one man Charles says he can’t do without
By Caroline Graham for The Mail on Sunday
He is the ‘indispensable’ aide about whom Prince
Charles once reportedly exclaimed: ‘I can manage without just about anyone,
except for Michael.’
But as Michael Fawcett last night ‘temporarily’
stepped down as the chief executive of The Prince’s Foundation, many will
wonder if Charles’s right-hand man of four decades can possibly dodge the
bullet again.
The 58-year-old has been forced to resign twice before
– once after being accused of bullying in 1998 and again in 2003 when he was
dubbed ‘Fawcett the Fence’ for selling royal gifts.
Then, his closeness to his master (he reportedly
squeezed toothpaste onto the Prince’s toothbrush when Charles broke his arm
playing polo) helped bring him back from the wilderness.
But who is the former comprehensive schoolboy with
such a seemingly impenetrable hold on our future King?
Born in Orpington, Kent, he arrived at Buckingham
Palace aged 17 straight out of catering college.
A Former Royal aide who witnessed Fawcett’s remarkable
rise through the ranks said: ‘When he first arrived, he called himself Michael
Buxton-Fawcett which sounded very grand.
'We used to jokingly call him “Sir Michael”. He soon
dropped Buxton, which was his mother’s maiden name.’
As Michael Fawcett last night ‘temporarily’ stepped
down as the chief executive of The Prince’s Foundation, many will wonder if
Charles’s right-hand man of four decades can possibly dodge the bullet again.
The aide said: ‘His rise was remarkable for someone
from such a modest background. He became a senior footman, then Charles’s
valet.
‘From that point, he dug in and secured his position.
He is one of the few people the Prince absolutely trusts. He wields an
extraordinary amount of influence.’
When the Prince and Princess of Wales formally
separated in 1992, Fawcett remained firmly on Team Charles.
Indeed, Diana reportedly so disliked him that she
changed the locks at Kensington Palace moments before Fawcett arrived to
collect her estranged husband’s clothes.
Fawcett became close to Camilla Parker Bowles.
A source said: ‘It was Michael who helped protect and
guide her as she transitioned from Royal mistress to Duchess of Cornwall.
‘He made himself indispensable to them as a couple.’
Indeed, it is said to have been Camilla who intervened
when Fawcett first resigned in 1998 after allegations of bullying.
‘His resignation was accepted but Camilla stepped in
and persuaded Charles to reinstate him,’ the aide said.
Five years later, Fawcett stepped down again after an
internal inquiry found he had broken regulations by accepting and selling gifts
that Charles did not want.
Crucially, the probe cleared him of any financial
wrongdoing.
‘Fawcett took the heat for that one but his actions
endeared him even more to Prince Charles because he fell on his sword and
proved his loyalty,’ an insider said.
Fawcett received £500,000 in severance pay and, after
setting up events company Premier Mode Ltd became the Prince’s go-to party
organiser.
He also oversaw renovations at the Prince’s Highland
retreat, Birkhall, the former home of the Queen Mother, and in 2013 was put in
charge of Charles’s pet project, the renovation of Dumfries House.
In 2018, he was appointed the £95,000-a-year head of
The Prince’s Foundation.
Fawcett oversaw renovations at the Prince’s Highland
retreat, Birkhall, the former home of the Queen Mother, and in 2013 was put in
charge of Charles’s pet project, the renovation of Dumfries House
‘Michael talks to the Prince at least two or three
times a day,’ the source added. ‘He is that close.’
Over the years, Fawcett has started to mimic his
boss’s taste in clothes, with bespoke suits from Savile Row, custom-made shirts
and a pocket-square peeking out from his breast pocket.
‘He fiddles with his cuffs the way Charles does. He
even started speaking with the same inflections,’ said the aide.
But there have been missteps.
Eyebrows were raised when, for one fundraising event,
he hired Irish dancer Michael Flatley to perform with a troupe of female
dancers ‘who whipped off their robes to reveal skimpy bikinis’.
‘Jaws dropped. These were high-end donors, some of
whom had paid tens of thousands of pounds to be there, maybe more. It was
inappropriate,’ said one guest who attended the event.
Fawcett has been married for more than two decades to
Debbie, 59, a former Palace housemaid.
The couple have two children, Oliver and Emily, both
in their 20s, who work for Premier Mode.
In 2000, Fawcett was made a Member of the Victorian
Order and, until now, many believed he would land a knighthood when Charles
becomes King.
‘Whatever people say about Michael, he has helped
raise millions of pounds and created hundreds of jobs,’ said one supporter.
‘His loyalty to the Prince has never waivered. If
anything, their bond is stronger now than ever.’
NORMAN BAKER:
Charles can’t hide behind aides. His fingerprints are all over this mess
Cash for access. Cash for honours. And even cash for
citizenship.
The Mail on Sundays’ devastating revelations about
Prince Charles and his advisers, including right-hand man Michael Fawcett, will
come as a shock to many.
But the real surprise should be that their activities
have remained hidden from public view for quite so long.
For this is no one-off.
It is a pattern of behaviour.
It has long been normal practice for Charles to accept
cash – on behalf of his charities – in return for favours.
Yes, the causes championed by the Prince of Wales are
worthy ones.
In particular, The Prince’s Trust, which he
established in 1976, has been a great success and helped close to a million
youngsters.
Dumfries House, which he decided to save for the nation,
does valuable and often pioneering work.
Yet Charles has repeatedly shown he his willing to
accept cheques from almost anybody and everybody, without ever seeming to
realise – or, perhaps, to care – that the large cheques have been forthcoming
because the donors want something back for themselves.
His own father, Prince Philip, once described Charles
as ‘rent-a-Royal’.
And the greater the sum, the shadier the donor.
Enron founder Kenneth Lay was a regular guest at St
James’s Palace for example. On occasion, Lay reciprocated the favour and
Charles flew to Houston to have lunch with him.
Enron donated around £1 million to the Prince’s Trust
between 1991 and 1999. But that was before it was revealed that Enron had
fiddled the books amid a catastrophic bankruptcy that ruined countless lives.
And what should we make of Ruben Vardanyan, chief
executive of a Moscow bank, Troika Dialog?
This bank managed a shell company in the British
Virgin Islands, a tax haven, called Quantus Division.
Through Quantus, £200,000 made its way to Charles to
help plug a gaping hole in the finances of Dumfries House.
No doubt Vladimir Putin would have been pleased with
this top-level, scrutiny-free access to the British Establishment.
Charles seems to think that if the cause is justified,
and the money rolls in, nothing else truly matters. It is an attitude that
reeks of a streak of arrogance, vanity and perhaps naivety, too.
Back in the 1990s, the Tory Government was rocked by
the ‘cash for questions’ scandal.
The allegation that two Conservative MPs were paid to
ask parliamentary questions led to the resignation of one, Tim Smith, and the
heavy defeat of the other, Neil Hamilton at the 1997 General Election.
How is this different from Prince Charles selling
access to himself for money?
Yet today’s revelations – that Michael Fawcett offered
to help a Saudi sheik obtain both a knighthood and a British passport – takes
the issue to a whole new level.
It is a criminal offence to sell an honour under the
Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925. Tomorrow, I shall be writing to the
Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, to ask her to open an
investigation.
As for helping to obtain citizenship in return for
cash, that was the sort of link – which I uncovered through a parliamentary
answer back in 2001 – that forced Trade Secretary Peter Mandelson to resign
from the Labour Government.
He had intervened with the Home Office on behalf of
the Hinduja brothers, who were making a big donation to that whitest of
elephants, the Millennium Dome.
How is this different from Charles soliciting money
for Dumfries House in return for a promise of citizenship? It is not.
The parallels should make uncomfortable consideration
for the heir to the throne – although if past behaviour is any guide, there
will be little such reflection.
If the story refuses to go away, then Michael Fawcett
will be forced to resign permanently. Will he then be quietly re-employed when
nobody is looking? It has happened before.
But let’s be clear – this is no rogue operation. Mr
Fawcett is doing exactly what Prince Charles wants.
And it is the Prince of Wales, not Michael Fawcett,
who has to answer questions now. His royal fingerprints are all over this.
The monarchy has been seriously damaged by the dodgy
activities of the boorish Prince Andrew and by the self- obsessed bleatings of
Harry and Meghan.
The Queen continues to command respect, but she will
not go on for ever.
This morning, many will be asking themselves how
Prince Charles can square such behaviour with the momentous responsibilities he
is due to inherit one day.
l...And What Do You Do? What The Royal Family Don’t
Want You To Know, by Norman Baker, is published by Biteback
What a rum
bunch to be hobnobbing with Britain’s future King! The remarkable cast of
wealthy donors to the Prince's Foundation
By Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Jonathan Bucks for The Mail
on Sunday
A remarkable cast of wealthy individuals from around
the world have donated funds to the Prince’s Foundation.
As Prince Charles faces intense scrutiny over how he
has raised money, The Mail on Sunday highlights some of the colourful
characters who have provided financial support to the future king.
The ex Saudi spy chief: Turki bin Faisal al saud
A former director general of Saudi Arabia’s
intelligence agency and later its ambassador to Britain, Turki Bin Faisal al
Saud has been photographed arm-in-arm with Charles and between September 2004
and October 2005 served as a director of the Prince’s School of Traditional
Arts, an arm of the Prince’s Foundation.
But Turki, 76, has a chequered past.
In 2002, two years before he was appointed director at
the school, he was named in a multi-billion-pound lawsuit by families of 9/11
victims, alleging that he was among a group of Saudi princes who may have
funded terrorists involved in the attack.
Turki has repeatedly and vociferously denied the
claims, insisting he had had no contact with Osama Bin Laden since Iraq invaded
Kuwait in 1990.
In 2005, he described al-Qaeda as ‘an evil cult’.
The billionaire
dealer: Wafic Said
The Syrian-born Saudi billionaire was recognised as a
‘founding supporter’ during the restoration of Dumfries House, but he is also
known as a middleman who profited from Britain’s ‘Al-Yamamah’ arms deal which
involved the multi-billion-pound sale of fighter jets and warships to Saudi
Arabia.
A major investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into
allegations of corruption surrounding the deal were dropped amid claims the SFO
had bowed to political pressure.
The Syrian-born Saudi billionaire was recognised as a
‘founding supporter’ during the restoration of Charles's Dumfries House
In 2009, Mr Said, pictured, was at the centre of
claims that he had allegedly exploited a loophole to make donations to the
Conservatie Party via his wife, which he strongly denies.
Said, whose homes around the world include Tusmore
Park, a 3,000-acre estate in Oxfordshire, had previously given donations to the
Tories. Between 2004 and 2006, Said reportedly gave £550,000 to the party at
auctions.
‘$1m in his
underwear’: Timur Kuanyshev
Kazakh oil magnate Timur and his wife Alfiya are
prominent supporters of the Prince’s Foundation with a craft and skills centre
named in their honour.
At Dumfries House, the ‘resplendent Blue Drawing Room’
was also ‘generously funded’ by the couple.
But they are perhaps better known for being arrested
in Moscow in 1993 allegedly with $1 million in their underwear. The pair were
never prosecuted.
Damned by an
American judge: Cem Uzan
Almost £400,000 was donated by the Turkish businessman
to the Prince’s Foundation in 2003, but the tycoon hit the headlines after
being convicted for conning telephone firm Motorola in an elaborate loan scam.
Mr Uzan was sentenced to 15 months’ jail by a High
Court judge in 2002 after failing to attend a hearing into allegations that he
failed to repay £2billion of loans.
The 60-year-old and his wife Alara had been among the
Prince’s Foundation’s most prominent supporters.
In June 2000, Mrs Uzan sat next to Charles at a dinner
to celebrate the setting up of the Foundation.
In 2003, a US District Court condemned the couple,
saying: ‘The proof is very strong that the Uzans are business imperialists of
the worst kind, in that they will go to any lengths, including fraud and
racketeering, to preserve their business empire.’
Two years later, the Prince’s Foundation concluded it
would not return the £400,000 donation.
In 2009, Mr Uzan was granted political asylum in
France. He was later indicted for racketeering in Turkey and sentenced in
absentia to 23 years in prison.
Laundering row
Russian: Ruben Vardanyan
An Armenian-born Russian businessman, 53-year-old
Ruben Vardanyan donated $100,000 to the Prince’s Foundation in 2009 and has
been pictured with Charles at Dumfries House.
In 2010, he attended an event celebrating Armenia and
its culture at Windsor Castle, but it later emerged that an arm of Troika
Dialog, a private investment bank that he ran, acted as a financial Laundromat,
allegedly shuffling billions through offshore companies on behalf of Russia’s
elite.
An Armenian-born Russian businessman, 53-year-old
Ruben Vardanyan (left) donated $100,000 to the Prince’s Foundation in 2009 and
has been pictured with Charles at Dumfries House
Mr Vardanyan insists he knew nothing about the scheme
and was not involved in the operations, management or activities of the wealth
management arm of Troika Dialog Group.
His donations to the Prince’s Foundation were made
from his personal funds.
Accused of
bribery: Prince Al Waleed
The billionaire, philanthropist and royal is a ‘core
fund patron’ of the Prince’s Foundation, but he has also courted controversy in
his native Saudi Arabia where in 2017 he was arrested on allegations of money
laundering, bribery and extorting officials.
A nephew of King Salman, his arrest was seen by many
as a politically motivated bid by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to tighten
his grip on power.
Prince Al Waleed was released in 2018 after three
months in detention following a financial settlement.
Charles'
charity went into business with convicted Latvian tycoon and former Blackpool
FC owner Valeri Belokon
By Jonathan Bucks and Kate Mansey for the Mail on
Sunday
Prince Charles’s charitable foundation went into
business with a Latvian tycoon later convicted of money laundering.
Valeri Belokon, a former co-owner of Blackpool
Football Club, announced to fanfare in Latvia in 2010 that he and Charles had
formed a joint venture, called PF Urban, to provide consultancy services in
‘ecological construction’ and ‘urban planning’.
Belokon’s company Latvijas a/s Hercogiste – which
translates as The Duchy of Latvia – established PF Urban in a ‘joint venture’
with the Prince’s Foundation and a Kuwaiti property conglomerate.
Under the terms of the deal, PF Urban ran some of the
Foundation’s projects in countries including Latvia, Georgia and China – with
Mr Belokon and a Kuwaiti investor called Sheikha Fadia Al-Salem al Sabah
receiving ten per cent of any profits.
According to records at Companies House, Mr Belokon,
61, was a director of PF Urban from September 2010 until June 2013 – two years
after criminal proceedings began against him in Latvia over money-laundering
allegations.
The case ended with his Manas Bank being taken over by
the Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan.
The father-of-three, once an associate of Donald
Trump, has consistently denied any wrongdoing but a Paris court of appeal
judgment in 2017 stated he had bought his bank ‘in order to develop...
money-laundering practices’.
Mr Belokon insists his conviction and 20-year jail term
– which he faces if he returns to Latvia – were politically motivated and built
on ‘fabricated evidence’.
He was, however, suspended from the board of Blackpool
FC after the English Football League deemed that he was ‘not a fit and proper
person’.
Belokon’s company Latvijas a/s Hercogiste – which
translates as The Duchy of Latvia – established PF Urban in a ‘joint venture’
with the Prince’s Foundation and a Kuwaiti property conglomerate. Pictured:
Charles in Ballater, Scotland
Describing Prince Charles in an interview in 2010, Mr
Belokon said: ‘The Prince is a very educated man with his own views and a great
understanding of what to do for development, a bit of a fanatical supporter of
the green movement, an avid polo player and a very pleasant interlocutor.’
.webp)
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